New concert hall forms part of the City Region Deal
Part of the City Region Deal includes the sum of £20 million for the new concert hall in St Andrew Square.
We spoke with Culture Convener Donald Wilson who is very happy that this now means Edinburgh will get a new concert hall for the first time in many years.
The charitable trust IMPACT Scotland and the Scottish Chamber Orchestra (SCO) first developed a proposal to create a new world-class arts centre in the heart of Scotland’s capital, Edinburgh.
The proposal is to build a facility in St Andrew Square which would be the new home of the SCO, as well as a venue for education, conferences and public engagement.
Councillor Wilson told us : “Yes it is fantastic. It’s a great time for me to have taken up the portfolio of Culture because this is a fantastic piece of good news for the city.
“It’s all about not just sustainability but about the constant reinvention and being able to move forward.and not just stand still with these things so this deal will give us the ability to do that.”
We asked about the way the funding would work. Councillor Wilson explained : “The great thing about this is that there are lots of different partners with the Scottish Government, the Westminster Government and of course the council and private funding. Everybody is pitching in.The council if you like are getting a fantastic new concert hall, the first one to be built in the city for a hundred years, depending on whether you count the refurbishment of the Festival Theatre. But this is really the first new build for a hundred years, and we are getting it with largely outside funding.
“The figures are astonishing. There is one £10 million donation from the Dunard Trust but also £10 million from The Scottish Government and £10 million from Westminster.”
The overall price for the new concert hall is £65 million and so £40 million of that will have to come from private investment and donations.
We spoke with @CultureCmmunity about the new Concert Hall which now seems a probability with the new investment from the City Region Deal pic.twitter.com/WdcVWLbAjm
— Edinburgh Reporter (@EdinReporter) 20 July 2017