£50m grant to make Tate Modern into 'world's best'

The Tate Modern gallery has been promised a £50m grant from the Government which will enable it to expand and become the world's premier institution for contemporary and modern art before the 2012 London Olympics. The grant, which is the largest single lump sum to be given to a cultural institution since the 1970s, will enable Tate Modern to create a spectacular new building housing hundreds of pieces that have until now been kept in storage. These include works by Damien Hirst, Mark Rothko, Bill Viola, Bruce Nauman and Olafur Eliasson.

The donation, announced yesterday, is a reflection of the Bankside venue's remarkable success, both commercially and artistically, over the past seven years. Converted from a disused power station, it has become the most popular gallery in the world.

The new building, located within the gallery's disused oil tanks, will increase the existing venue's size by 60 per cent, with construction expected to begin in early 2009.

James Purnell, the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, said Tate had been pivotal in placing London at the centre of the international arts scene and that the development would create a new landmark.

"Tate Modern has been a runaway success with the public from the day it opened," he said. "I know that this new development, which we hope will be completed in time for 2012, will prove once and for all that London is the cultural capital of the world. Other cities in the world are looking at what we are doing in London and trying to catch up. To stop them catching up we have to move forward."

The £50m came from the Government's comprehensive spending review settlement and comprises a quarter of the overall capital budget divided between 16 of the nation's museums and galleries.

Mr Purnell denied the award would undercut money allocated to the other institutions, which await news of their individual budgets this week.

Nicholas Serota, director of Tate, said the move had helped to endorse the importance of British art at an international level. "It gives us a platform for the creation of an institution for the 21st century, designed to serve the next generation of artists and visitors. This commitment confirms London's position as one of the leading international centres for the visual arts."

The total cost of the project will be equivalent to £215m by 2012, with the London Development Agency having donated 7m and 5m being given by the philanthropist, John Studzinski.

Designed by the architects Herzog & de Meuron, who created the vision for Beijing's Olympic stadium, it will see different kinds of galleries built to showcase large-scale installations, including works such as Hirst's Pharmacy, a room-sized piece with cabinets containing prescription drugs, and Bruce Nauman's Mapping the Studio II, a sprawling new media recreation of studio space. Currently, only around 40 per cent of the gallery's overall collection is shown due to a lack of space. Anna Somers Cocks, editorial director of The Art Newspaper, said Tate had been central in transforming the idea of visiting art galleries into a popular activity.

"I would say that Moma in New York might have the better collection but Tate has got much more edge. It's more innovative and it has had the most fabulous public programmes, making it more than just what you see in the galleries," she added.

In 2000, a total investment of £137m created Tate Modern. Since then, it has attracted more than 30 million visitors, with around 60 per cent under 35. Last year, it drew a record 4.9 million visitors, making it the second most visited venue in the country. When the new building is complete, it is expected to add another million visitors a year. Tate is credited with aiding the revival of a wide area of London and helping to reconfigure cultural tourism.