Sir Terence Conran makes £17.5m gift to create world leading Design Museum

By: 

Cheryl Chapman

Managing Editor, Philanthropy UK

World-renowned designer Sir Terence Conran has announced that he is giving cash and donations in kind totalling £17.5m to the Design Museum, helping them to create the world’s leading museum of contemporary design and architecture at the site of the old Commonwealth Institute in London.

This gift brings Sir Terence and the Conran Foundation’s support for the museum to £50m over the last 30 years. Culture secretary Jeremy Hunt praised the “exceptionally generous” gift, saying it “will not only help this excellent cultural institution move to a new home, but will also help showcase Britain’s ability to produce some of the world’s greatest designers”.

Sir Terence who celebrates his 80th birthday this October, met the Prime Minister David Cameron and Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt at 10 Downing Street in recognition of his continued support for the Design Museum and this exciting new project.

The Design Museum plans to relocate from its current home at Shad Thames to the former Commonwealth Institute building, giving it three times more space in which to show a wider range of exhibitions, showcase its world-class collection and extend its learning programme.

The 1960s Commonwealth Institute Grade 2* listed building has been practically unoccupied since 2001. Its refurbishment will give a neglected London icon a new life and purpose and will revitalise an important area of west London. The project is expected to be completed by 2014.

The capital budget for the project, including the site value is £77m. The Design Museum has already secured a significant amount of the funding required in the form of contributions from the developer of the adjacent residential scheme, the generous gift from Sir Terence Conran, a first round pass* from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) and a number of other major gifts. The museum is undertaking a major fundraising campaign to raise the remaining funds required for the scheme, this will include the submission of a second round application for a total grant of £4.9m from the HLF.

Sir Terence Conran comments: “Moving to the Commonwealth Institute will allow all our dreams and ambitions for the Design Museum to come true, to create a world class space with the size and scope for the serious promotion and celebration of design and architecture in this country. I am also uplifted by the support we are receiving from Government, who  recognise the enormous contribution the creative industries make to the economy and the quality of life of ordinary people. Design, manufacturing and business are completely interlinked and one cannot succeed without the other.”

Hunt adds: “Sir Terence Conran has already made a remarkable contribution to the history of design. Through his Habitat and Conran stores, restaurants, books and the Design Museum he has had an extraordinary influence on the way we live and the way we view design. Sir Terence’s exceptionally generous gift to the Design Museum will not only help this excellent cultural institution move to a new home, but will also help showcase Britain’s ability to produce some of the world’s greatest designers and influence design on a global scale.”

Deyan Sudjic, Design Museum director says: "Terence Conran has transformed Britain. His contribution to the way we live, eat, and shop over six decades has been enormous. The gift to the Design Museum is a hugely generous investment in the future. By making our ambition to move to the former Commonwealth Institute much more achievable, he makes possible a project that will give the museum three times as much space as it has now. The new Design Museum will be the definitive voice of contemporary design, reinforcing Britain's place as one of the world’s leading creative economies.”

Sir Terence Conran is one of the world’s best-known designers, restaurateurs and retailers. Born in 1931, he founded the Conran Design Studio in 1956 and later the Habitat chain of home furnishings stores that revolutionised the UK High Street in the 1960s and 1970s by bringing intelligent, modern design within reach of the general population. In the 1980s Habitat was expanded and following a series of acquisitions evolved into Storehouse plc, of which he retired as Chairman in 1990. Today he is the Chairman of Conran Holdings, a design group with restaurants, shops and an architecture and design practice operating all over the world. He has been Provost of the Royal College of Art since 2003.

In 1982 Sir Terence Conran established the forerunner of the Design Museum, the Boilerhouse, in the basement of the Victoria and Albert Museum. The success of this project led to the opening of the Design Museum in 1989 at its current location in Shad Thames made possible by a major donation by the Conran Foundation as part of its continued support since the early 1980s.

Later this year the Design Museum will celebrate Sir Terence Conran's career with a retrospective exhibition – Sir Terence Conran, The Way we Live Now, 16 November 2011 - 4 March 2012. This exhibition will explore Sir Terence Conran’s impact on contemporary life. The Design Museum will also host a panel debate at Tate Modern on 20 September 2011 with guest speakers celebrating Sir Terence Conran’s career.