Date: 31/08/2006
Source: Wakefield Council
The preferred contractor for the prestigious new art gallery The Hepworth Wakefield is Laing O'Rourke, a firm with strong local links, it was announced today.
And site preparation work at The Waterfront is likely to begin within the next six weeks. It will include clearing away old buildings, tidying up the site and making it safe.
Cllr Peter Box, Leader of Wakefield Council, said that he was delighted that work was about to start.
"This is a major public sector contribution to the regeneration of the Waterfront area and will transform that part of the city centre. The building designed by David Chipperfield will be of national and international significance and I am especially pleased that our preferred bidder is a company with strong local links.
"The Hepworth Wakefield will be a fitting home to the city's outstanding collection of work by 20th century artists and it will put the city on the cultural map of Britain."
John Foster, the Council's Chief Executive, said that Laing O'Rourke's bid for what will be a major public sector project was impressive.
"They are a good company and we like their professional approach and that they could demonstrate experience of work on cultural buildings such as the Grand Theatre in Leeds," he said.
Dan Doherty, director of Laing O'Rourke in Yorkshire and a Wakefield resident, said: "We are delighted to be involved with The Hepworth Wakefield project. It is a scheme that will truly put Wakefield on the map, locally, nationally and internationally and will act as a catalyst to regenerating the waterfront. It also further adds to Laing O'Rourke's reputation as a contractor of high profile public schemes in Yorkshire following on from our work at Leeds Grand Theatre, Leeds Museum and the renovation of Kirkstall Abbey."
The Hepworth Wakefield is due to open in 2008. The total cost of the building and the public garden around it is £22 million while the whole project, which includes a footbridge across the River Calder and access works to link The Hepworth Wakefield and the Waterfront to the city centre, will cost £26 million.
Wakefield Council has secured funding from The Arts Council (£5 million) and the Heritage Lottery Fund (£4.98 million). Other funding has been secured or identified from the Council, Yorkshire Forward and the European Regional Development Fund.
The gallery will feature Wakefield Art Gallery's outstanding collection of works by Barbara Hepworth and other major 20th century British artists, including Anthony Caro, Ben Nicholson, LS Lowry and Henry Moore, who, like Barbara Hepworth, was born just a few miles from the proposed gallery site.
