Portrait gallery to look North in £8m plan

The National Portrait Gallery is in talks to open an £8m outpost in the north of England to display more of its contemporary art and photography.

The gallery hopes to find a home in Durham, near the cathedral, for its satellite gallery which could focus on presenting a history of the 20th century through portraiture.

But the plan is dependent upon attracting aid from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport to cover running costs of up to £1m a year.

Charles Saumarez Smith, the National Portrait Gallery's director, said yesterday: "It's our next big project and part of our long-term desire to get more of the collection on display and available outside London."

The Durham proposal is being backed by the city council and the university as a boost to the local economy. The cathedral currently attracts 600,000 visitors a year to the city which the gallery believes provides a sufficient basis to make the scheme viable. The plan is to adapt an existing building close to the city centre for about £8m.

Although the gallery does not expect to receive central government funding, and is prepared to seek support from Europe, regional development and lottery funds, it is aware that the greatest problem will be securing enough money to run the building. Dr Saumarez Smith said the Government has been reluctantto commit to new galleries until they were ready to open. It agreed to give Tate Modern £5m only shortly before it opened after Nicholas Serota, the Tate's director, warned the museum might have to charge an entry fee.

Yet Dr Saumarez Smith said he would need an early commitment from the Department of Culture to feel confident his venture was not foolhardy. He said: "We would be wary about extending our operation without some level of certainty of government support for it."

The gallery considered other cities in the North-east, including Middlesbrough, before selecting Durham, where a full feasibility study is about to get under way. Dr Saumarez Smith said: "We thought it would be good to be in the North-east, particularly because of the sense of a big urban conurbation with a large population that doesn't have convenient access to the existing gallery."

Colin Shearsmith, chief executive of Durham City Council, said: "We believe the gallery will be a magnificent asset for local people and a wonderful attraction for tourists."

The National Portrait Gallery already has partnerships with Montacute House in Somerset, Bodelwyddan Castle in Wales and Beningbrough Hall in Yorkshire, which ensure that the collections are seen outside London. But none of the existing partnerships feature the gallery's extensive collection of 20th-century works, including a large body of photography, which Dr Saumarez-Smith believes deserves wider viewing.

The gallery's proposals follow the rapid expansion of the Tate, which has set up galleries in St Ives, Cornwall, and Liverpool. The plans also reflect the policy of the last Labour administration, which encouraged museums and galleries to get their collections out of storage.