Light dims as cash crisis hits beacon of Scottish architecture

Published on Sunday 23 August 2009 22:38

SCOTLAND's centre for architecture will close its doors this week unless it can secure hundreds of thousands of pounds of funding.

In a move that will be a major blow to the morale of the nation's design community, it is understood the centre will not receive any more public funding amid concerns over its financial management.

A source involved in the discussions to save the flagship centre told The Scotsman that there was little confidence left in the board of The Lighthouse to formulate a successful business model.

The centre, run as a charitable trust, has accrued debts of around 220,000.

It is thought the debts at the centre will be covered by the Scottish Government and Glasgow City Council, but there would be no rescue package.

Despite speculation that it might survive in a streamlined capacity, it is expected the centre, which employs 57 people, will go into administration following a meeting of its board of directors scheduled for this evening.

Based in an A-listed Charles Rennie Mackintosh-designed building, the centre was opened for Glasgow's 1999 City of Architecture celebrations, and has been regarded as the cradle of Scottish architecture.

But its financial position has become increasingly precarious. Last year, the local authority injected 250,000 into the centre to prevent its closure following several mishaps. They included the cancellation of a second Six Cities design festival which would have brought 2.25 million in funding, and the costs of staging Scotland's contribution at the Venice Biennale.

The latest accounts for The Lighthouse show that, without public support, it would be an unsustainable enterprise. In 2007-8, it received some 2.97m in grants, whereas it generated just 470,000 from exhibitions which cost 3.19m to stage.

"The last rescue package was done in the hope that the board could find a way of improving the situation," the source explained. "But The Lighthouse has proved just too expensive to run, it's not being managed efficiently."

The Scottish Government said no extra funding would be made available. A spokesman said: "We commend the excellent work The Lighthouse does and hope to see it overcome its present problems."

Malcolm Fraser, the award-winning Edinburgh architect, said the business model of The Lighthouse has been flawed.

He said: "(The centre] has become a beast that has needed things created to feed it. Clearly, that is not a good model."

However, Dejan Sudjic, director of the 1999 festival which spawned the institution, said: "It is important that The Lighthouse survives. It would be a travesty if it was to fail."

Nick Barley, director of The Lighthouse, was not available for comment.