The Somerset House Trust is close to finalising a deal for a multimillion-pound redevelopment of the venue.
The project will cost up to £30m and will open up large areas of Somerset House to the public for the first time. It will include galleries, bars, restaurants, shops, artists' studios and office space for the creative industries.
The project will be part-funded by the money a developer will pay for creating a hotel in the building on the far west of the Somerset House complex.
The scheme has been made possible by the planned departure next year of HM Revenue & Customs, which occupies a large area of Somerset House. The trust can also use the spaces created by the recent departure of the Gilbert Collection for the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the closure late last year of the Hermitage Rooms.
The Gilbert Collection space has been renamed the Embankment Galleries and will feature temporary exhibitions, the first of which opens this month (Museums Journal March 2008, p9). The space formerly occupied by the Hermitage Rooms will feature free temporary shows.
"We want to make it a really important meeting place for London and make the historic buildings a backdrop for contemporary art and culture," said Somerset House director Gwyn Miles.
Miles has experience of working on large-scale redevelopments, joining Somerset House in 2006 from the V&A, where she oversaw its FuturePlan scheme to open up the museum and create new galleries.
The hotel scheme has been controversial, as King's College, which occupies buildings on the eastern side of the complex, also wanted to occupy the western side.
But Miles said she is confident that the trust can secure an agreement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as the government holds the freehold to Somerset House.
The project will cost up to £30m and will open up large areas of Somerset House to the public for the first time. It will include galleries, bars, restaurants, shops, artists' studios and office space for the creative industries.
The project will be part-funded by the money a developer will pay for creating a hotel in the building on the far west of the Somerset House complex.
The scheme has been made possible by the planned departure next year of HM Revenue & Customs, which occupies a large area of Somerset House. The trust can also use the spaces created by the recent departure of the Gilbert Collection for the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and the closure late last year of the Hermitage Rooms.
The Gilbert Collection space has been renamed the Embankment Galleries and will feature temporary exhibitions, the first of which opens this month (Museums Journal March 2008, p9). The space formerly occupied by the Hermitage Rooms will feature free temporary shows.
"We want to make it a really important meeting place for London and make the historic buildings a backdrop for contemporary art and culture," said Somerset House director Gwyn Miles.
Miles has experience of working on large-scale redevelopments, joining Somerset House in 2006 from the V&A, where she oversaw its FuturePlan scheme to open up the museum and create new galleries.
The hotel scheme has been controversial, as King's College, which occupies buildings on the eastern side of the complex, also wanted to occupy the western side.
But Miles said she is confident that the trust can secure an agreement with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, as the government holds the freehold to Somerset House.
