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Courtauld Institute gears up for £50m redevelopment

Improved visitor facilities, new exhibition spaces and a learning centre are expected in the first phase of a £50m regeneration project.

Christy Romer
3 min read

The Courtauld Institute of Art is to create a new learning centre for school children, families and community groups as part of the first phase of a £50m redevelopment programme.

The project, called ‘Courtauld Connects’, will also involve partnerships with regional galleries, the development of a new ‘Public Research Forum’ for national and international audiences, and the creation of an online archive of 1.1 million images from The Courtauld’s image collection.

The gallery has revealed the plans following an award of £9.4m from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF). The grant brings the total it has raised to over half of the £30m required for phase one of the project.

Construction for phase one is scheduled to start in September 2018 and the Gallery could close up to two months earlier. The plans include:

  • A new temporary exhibition space
  • Re-modelling the entrance
  • Enlarging and improving visitor facilities
  • Adding space for the display of the gallery’s permanent collection
  • Restoring the Great Room and improving the presentation of the collection in the Fine Rooms.

Phase one is due to be completed in February 2020, and the gallery will reopen a few months later.

Reconnection

One of the project’s aims is to reconnect the gallery with people living in the towns and cities where Courtaulds Ltd once had a major industrial presence, including Coventry, Preston and Norwich. To this end, the Courtauld Institute has launched a series of partnerships with local museums, educational institutions and galleries, involving loans and skill exchange programmes.

It will share a number of works by Edgar Degas with Coventry’s Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, and works by Claude Monet and Edouard Manet with Preston’s Harris Museum and Art Gallery and Hull’s Ferens Art Gallery respectively.

Professor Deborah Swallow, Märit Rausing Director of The Courtauld, said: “This is only the first phase; there is still much to do and we have further funds to raise.

“We are hugely grateful to the HLF for its generous support for Courtauld Connects and its endorsement of our commitment to making our academic excellence and rich collection available to as many people as possible.”

Stuart Hobley, Head of HLF London, added: “The Courtauld is home to one of the most outstanding art collections in Britain; our funding will help to unlock these treasures by revitalising the ‘gateway’ of its Somerset House site and re-energising their work with communities outside the capital.”

The £20m second phase, which aims to provide state-of-the-art facilities for research, learning and teaching, is scheduled to begin in February 2020 and finish in June 2021.