Tate Britain gallery to receive a £45m revamp

Plans for an ambitious overhaul of London’s Tate Britain gallery, the home of British art on the banks of the Thames, have been unveiled. The redesign, which is costing around £45 million and is due to be completed in 2013, will include new designs for the galleries and structural improvements within the core of Sidney Smith’s 19th-century design.

As part of the structural work the gallery’s Millbank entrance will be re-established, while the Rotunda dome’s circular balcony will be made accessible to Tate members for the first time since the 1920s. At the same time a new, striking spiral staircase is to be added in the domed atrium. In the oldest part of the building nine of the galleries will be given reinforced floors to allow for larger sculptures, and improved insulation and ventilation systems.

Within the galleries, the artwork is to be displayed in a more coherent and provocative way, with ‘in-focus’ displays, highlighting the gallery’s lesser known art.

“We will be able to see the historic site as something rather exciting,” says Penelope Curtis, Director of the gallery. It is hoped that the new gallery designs will allow historic and contemporary art to come together in a more comprehensive way.