Bam inks £80m Dundee V&A deal

Dundee City Council and Bam Construction have signed an £80.11m contract that will see work start on the troubled V&A Design Museum next month.

Japanese architect Kengo Kuma won the design competition for the waterfront structure in 2010, but it only emerged last month that the original scheme budget of £45m would be massively exceeded.

Rival architects had long warned that Kuma’s design could not be realised for the sum, however.

Dundee City Council is part of the consortium delivering the museum, in conjunction with the V&A, two local universities, and Scottish Enterprise.

Council leader Ken Guild said the start of works next month would see the museum completed by the end of 2017 and opened to the public by June 2018.

“This project will help to attract further investment into the city and we are already experiencing unprecedented levels of investor interest in Dundee,” he said.

“Construction of V&A Dundee will give our economy a significant boost and help to create hundreds of jobs. The building project itself will also bring considerable attention to Dundee.

“We are already enjoying the benefits of the recent award of UNESCO City of Design status, which reflects our growing international reputation.”

Doug Keillor, regional director of Bam Construction in Scotland, said the museum was “the most unique construction project” his team had ever been involved with.

“It’s challenging, but in a good way. Watching it take shape over the next few years using a combination of local, national and international expertise, will be very satisfying,” he said.

Last month, Dundee City Council director of development Mike Galloway warned that if work did not start on the project in March there would be a further six-month delay for the project as preparatory works in the River Tay needed to be complete before the seal pup season begins in June.