Member Article

Campaigners challenge £278m London concert hall plans

Proposals for a brand new concert hall, opening in 2023 on the site of the Museum of London near St Paul’s cathedral, are facing challenges from a group of campaigners from the classical music world.

According to The Guardian, the protestors, led by director of the New Queen’s Hall Orchestra, Jonathan Rose, an alternative venue on the north bank of the Thames at Blackfriars would be delivered faster and for less than the projected £278m.

“A million has already been spent on finding the wrong answer and now they have another £5.5m to develop it,” Mr Rose said.

“One has to wonder, if their proposed site is seen as having failed the Museum of London, then why would it not fail as a music venue? It does not compute.”

The government-backed plans would see the abandoned Museum of London building transformed into a concert venue with support from the City of London Corporation, which currently owns the surrounding land.

“To have to wait eight years for the much-needed new concert hall is bad enough, but for that date to be dependent on such a necessarily complex process to remove the Museum of London is extremely high risk,” Rose added.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ellen Forster .