Fight to raise £139m for Tate Modern’s Olympic showpiece

What price a pyramid: the extension will double capacity at Tate Modern

Tate Modern was today asked to "come clean" about funding its landmark extension in time for the 2012 Olympics.

London's favourite art gallery has raised £26 million in sponsorship — on top of £50 million of taxpayers' cash and private donations — for the £215 million project.

However, fundraising is believed to have slowed down during the recession.

Tate bosses insist the extension, designed to double capacity to let the gallery cope with up to five million visitors a year, is "on time, on schedule and on budget". They promised an announcement on funding "in due course".

But Simon Hughes, the Liberal Democrat MP for the North Southwark and Bermondsey constituency which includes Tate Modern, wants them to justify the amount of public money being invested. The Department for Culture is providing £50 million and the London Development Agency £7 million.

He told Building Design magazine: "The project is a good one and the public have shown their approval for Tate Modern in their millions in recent years. But the Tate must know that to go ahead and to justify the public money already committed, they need to provide funds to meet the balance.

"I hope that the Tate can come clean in the near future about where they hope to raise the additional money to keep the project going."

Preparatory work on the 70-metre, pyramid-like extension began in January and is due to get fully under way this summer.

The Tate, which received £62 million in public and Lottery subsidies last year, has been badly hit by the economic downturn. Last summer Culture Minister Barbara Follett warned the extension was one of a number of "big-ticket" schemes at risk from a need to cut government spending. In January it emerged the Tate had lost £1 million from hedge fund investments going bad.

A Department for Culture spokesman said it was still confident about the extension, but admitted the Tate needed to "crack on" with fundraising. "We believe the project is going ahead and we support it," he said.

The Tate said today: "The first part of the main building work will start in the summer as planned. We are making good progress in the discussions with a number of lead donors. Tate remains fully committed to the project."

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