The funding is in addition to the grant of £9.4m (of which £8m was for capital) awarded in January 2014.

Philip Long, Director of V&A Dundee, welcomed the decision: “This generous support from the Heritage Lottery Fund represents a significant boost to the new museum. Together with important recent decisions by Scottish Government and Dundee City Council it opens the door to an impending site start. We can now look forward to getting on and building this outstanding new museum, the first in the UK to be dedicated to design outside London.

“The renewed support of our funding and founding partners underlines the momentum and determination driving forward V&A Dundee, which will do so much to change the fortunes of this city. We very much appreciate these commitments and would like to thank to all involved.”

Carole Souter, Chief Executive of the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), said: “V&A Dundee will provide Scotland with a world-class museum of design while making a transformational contribution to the cultural, social and economic regeneration of the city. As a key member of the funding partnership, HLF’s UK Board has agreed to commit an additional £4.5m budget to the project to help cover increased building costs. We can now look forward to seeing this iconic building start to take shape and realising its full potential.” 

Dundee City Council administration leader Councillor Ken Guild, said: “We are delighted to hear of the Heritage Lottery Fund’s decision. We are aiming to construct a world-class building with significant economic benefits for Dundee and for Scotland. This is great news for the city.”

The announcement augments the approval given yesterday by Dundee City Council’s Policy & Resources Committee, to authorise officers to finalise the funding strategy to enable the museum to proceed and to make appropriate allocations in the council's Capital and Revenue Plans; and to delegate authority to accept the fixed price tender by BAM Construction Ltd.

Discussions are ongoing between the Scottish Government and Dundee City Council regarding joint working on the development of a growth acceleration model (GAM) proposal for Dundee Waterfront, to be submitted to Scottish Government for consideration over the coming months.

Work is programmed to begin on site at the end of March, with the building itself projected to be complete by end 2017. Fit out of the galleries and first exhibitions will follow, leading to an anticipated public opening of the museum by June 2018.

The museum’s first national touring exhibition, Design in Motion, launches in Dundee on Friday 13 February, as part of its pre-opening programme. A collaboration with the Travelling Gallery, the tour will take in over 70 venues the length and breath of the country, including cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen as well as rural locations including Lewis, Harris and Skye. View further details of V&A's Dundee in Motion scheme.

Notes to editors

V&A Museum of Design Dundee will be an international centre for design, housed in a world-class building at the heart of Dundee’s revitalized waterfront. It will host major exhibitions, celebrate design heritage, inspire and promote contemporary talent, and encourage future design innovation.

V&A Dundee will inform, educate and entertain but also explicitly, through its wider programmes inspire new creativity and innovation across Scotland.

V&A Dundee will have access to thousands of Scottish-related objects from the V&A’s world-renowned collection for its Scottish Design Galleries, supplemented by objects loaned from collections of national significance across Scotland and beyond. In parallel, the temporary exhibition galleries will host a variety of outstanding international touring exhibitions from the V&A each year.

V&A Dundee is being delivered by Design Dundee Ltd, a partnership between the Victoria and Albert Museum – the world’s greatest museum of art and design – and Dundee City Council, the University of Dundee, Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise.

The Scottish Government has committed £25m in capital towards the project’s £80.11million budget. The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) has awarded a total of £13.9m (of which £12.5m is for capital). Dundee City Council has contributed £6.5m towards the capital cost. Creative Scotland has awarded £5m (of which £4.5m is for capital). The remaining amounts will fund activities in the pre and early opening phase. A GAM proposal is under consideration of which £12.61m will contribute towards the capital cost. A further £15m is also being sought from a fundraising campaign.  Substantial progress has already been made towards this goal, with generous pledges and gifts to the value of £8.5m already secured from trust, companies, individuals and other sources.

View the V&A Dundee flythrough or the related Dundee Waterfront flythrough.

Further information

BIG Partnership: Graeme Cleland on 0131 557 5252 or email Graeme.Cleland@bigpartnership.co.uk.

HLF: Shiona Mackay on 07779 142 890, email: shionamackay1@btinternet.com or Alison Scott on 020 7591 6032, email: AlisonS@hlf.org.uk, out of hours mobile: 07873 613 820.