Building excellence in the cultural sector: Turner Contemporary
Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council are committed partners in a long-term strategy that puts culture at the heart of place-making in Margate, Thanet and across Kent. The gallery has achieved major success since it opened in 2011. In fact, visitor numbers exceeded targets considerably, and Margate has seen positive impacts for the local economy such as increases in the number of new residents and new businesses, particularly start-ups. Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council’s shared aim is to strengthen Turner Contemporary so that it will continue to play a key part in addressing some persistent local challenges in areas such as educational attainment, employment opportunities, health and wellbeing.
Project overview
The £1.782 million capital project focuses on improving the quality of visitor experience, resolving some operational problems, and improving long-term economic viability. The plan includes changes to the entrance and retail areas, addressing wear and tear from high usage, increasing WC provision, upgrading catering facilities and means of servicing hires, and introducing enhancements to the digital facilities and environmental sustainability.
Facts and figures
Type of project: Refurbishment, enhancements and reconfiguration
Total capital cost: £1.782 million
Funding: £1.287 million from Kent County Council; £0.495 million from Arts Council England
Project team: Kent County Council (Client); Avanti Architects (Architect); Phase 1 works: Redec Ltd Phase 2 works: WW Martin Ltd (Main contractor); Campbell Reith Tibbalds JV (Engineering consultant); Pinnacle (Lead structural and civil engineers); Betteridge & Milsom (Quantity surveyors, cost consultants); The Fire Surgery (Fire consultant/advisor); Nexus Associates (ICT and AV designer); Cantium Business Solutions (IT solutions architect, ICT/AV designers); Access Matters (Access consultancy); Amey Consulting / WW Martin Ltd / OSG Architecture Ltd (Carpark design/contract management); Spider Project Management (Technical project management); Kendrick Hobbs (Catering consultant); The Seeking State (Retail consultant)
Project timetable
2020: Phase 1 construction: 13 January to 14 February
2020/21: Phase 2 construction: 7 September 2020 to 30 April 2021
Procurement route
The works have been carried out over two phases. Procurement exercises were conducted for a JCT minor works contract for each phase.
The capital works involved: a combination of enhancements and reconfiguration at the gallery to improve access, flow and environmental sustainability and upgrade facilities; and a modest rear extension for storage purposes.
Impact of the Covid-19 Pandemic
The impact of the pandemic was felt across both the programme and budget for the capital project. Kent County Council was able to secure additional resource from Arts Council England’s Cultural Capital Kickstart Fund to alleviate the pressure and enable the project to be delivered in full.
The additional investment was used to cover increased costs, particularly where some work areas had to be reassessed to reflect the changes caused by the pandemic to the operating environment; these included the ICT specification, the retail design and the requirement for additional PPE in order for the gallery to open safely. The implementation of the new chargeable car park was also delayed due to the impact of Covid, which had a direct bearing on the award of planning permission plus an increase in fees.
A partnership for place-making
Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council are committed partners in a long-term strategy that puts culture at the heart of place-making in Margate, Thanet and Kent. Turner Contemporary originated as a unit within Kent County Council in 2001 (the Turner Centre) and became independent as part of the major project to deliver the David Chipperfield designed gallery that opened in 2011. As members of the Kent & Medway Cultural Transformation Board, they worked on a county-wide cultural strategy for the period 2017-27, an output created by and for the partnership rather than owned specifically by Kent County Council. Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council also regularly collaborate on projects such as England’s Creative Coast, many of which demonstrate the benefits of culture in society and place beyond economic regeneration.
Success breeds its own challenges
The gallery has achieved major success since it opened in 2011. In fact, visitor numbers exceeded targets considerably, attracting 375,000 to 400,000 per year instead of the 150,000 visits per year as initially forecast. Hosting the Turner Prize in late 2019 provided a further boost to the gallery and to Margate and Kent’s national profile.
The creation of the gallery has generated many positive knock-on impacts for the area. A study by Canterbury Christ Church University has found that the gallery has generated more than £70 million for the local economy, with significant private investment in Margate. Lucy Keeley, Principal Project Officer in the Culture and Creative Economy Service at Kent County Council, explains, ‘Prior to the pandemic, with relatively low property prices, Margate was attracting more established businesses and experimental start-ups, and sole operators as well as household names.’ This was happening across sectors, with a particularly well-documented proliferation of food and beverage offers. ‘We hope that this will continue to build as we now begin to recover from the restrictions of the last year.’
The gallery and Kent County Council are thinking through how to absorb the impacts of success on the gallery. Firstly, in terms of the physical building, the team have responded to the high level of wear and tear, demands in terms of toilet provision, the catering offer, and some issues of navigation and flow.
Additionally, they are working out how to exploit the opportunity for the gallery, not just other private businesses, to benefit from local economic impacts. Like many arts organisations, Turner Contemporary is still facing a challenging economic environment. Public funding has diminished over the period since 2011 and the gallery is mindful of reputational sensitivities around securing major corporate sponsors. Added to that, the gallery, like all other cultural organisations, has had to face head-on the challenges that have come with the worldwide pandemic. Increasing its capacity to earn income from commercial activities (food and drink, retail, hires and events) that will provide a stream of unrestricted revenues is therefore seen as critically important. As Victoria Pomery, Director of Turner Contemporary, describes, ‘When we first opened, Margate was a different place. It has now seen a raft of new private sector investors – businesses, residents and artists. The question is how do we monetise the brand of Margate that we’ve helped build; how can the gallery get something back – especially when we provide free entry?’
Finally, while both parties are proud of the economic regeneration, they are equally aware that not all the benefits are being equally shared by local residents; pockets of deprivation clearly remain and there is a determination to continue delivering social as well as economic impacts. This means that, in the face of some persistent challenges in areas such as educational attainment, employment, and health and wellbeing, the capital strategy has to buttress commercial income while not affecting the overall ethos and success of the education and outreach work in particular. Victoria explains the delicate balancing act in shifting organisational culture to reflect the operating realities: ‘We have had hard discussions about the comparative value of hosting a wedding compared with a learning workshop. But if we are to survive and make a difference over the long term, we have to be more sustainable.’
Collaborative working
Kent County Council, as the freeholder of the building, is acting as the capital project client for a second phase of works. Lucy Keeley, the partner liaison manager for the project at Kent County Council, talks of their relationship: ‘Kent County Council and Turner Contemporary have a shared ambition. This arrangement means that the local authority can offer additional capacity to alleviate the pressure, so that we achieve the things that we both want.’ Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council collaboratively devised a strong governance structure including a project board, project group and specific internal working groups.
Lucy highlighted the need for coordination between different parts of the council: ‘We are able to offer a project management resource and bring together lots of different services. We help the gallery understand all the council’s decision-making processes as there are many different routes that need to be adhered to. Sometimes we have to explain delays or how the procurement regulations work and so on. But the other critical thing is for the wider local authority team to understand how the gallery operates as well. Doing a capital project at the same time as being fully operational is a massive undertaking. Staff at the gallery can’t be expected to just drop day-to-day operations to focus on this or be available all the time at the gallery when they have work to do outside Margate, nationally or internationally even. So, we have an advocacy role on behalf of Turner Contemporary to our members and officers who may not have worked with the sector before. Communication is so important.’
Defining the scope of new works
Turner Contemporary and Kent County Council had to explore what scale and scope of project would best position the gallery to play a major role in continued place-making. A considerable body of work was undertaken that initially resulted in a bigger scheme plan approaching £6 million in value. This included a new destination restaurant and an extension to create a new flexible temporary exhibition space. A decision was taken to scale back this scheme on the basis that a smaller project at this stage would still achieve the objectives, ensuring that the quality of the visitor experience remains excellent and to enable Turner Contemporary to be more sustainable in the future.
Lucy explains, ‘When we ran the options appraisal, this approach felt the most beneficial and it was also, importantly, the one the gallery was most comfortable with as well. I think on reflection we have a good scheme that enables the gallery to move forward with minimal disruption.’
The rescoped project allowed them to ‘zero in’ on the main drivers. Success indicated many things were right in the original build such as placing education spaces at heart of the building. But also, challenges existed in relation to maintaining the quality of visitor experience, operational problems and long-term economic viability. Turner Contemporary’s management team was involved in identifying the factors inhibiting operations and limiting growth, while the local authority team took this understanding of how the space operates day to day to shape the detailed brief.
The final plan is being delivered in a number of discrete work packages, with important, if less glamourous, changes set to make an impact. Examples include making the entrance doors easier for visitors to handle to allow the front of house resource to be deployed elsewhere, creating extra storage facility, increasing toilet provision, and installing a finishing kitchen which will cater for events and conferences. They will introduce enhancements to the digital facilities including a broadband upgrade and new AV equipment and CCTV upgrades, as well improvements to environmental sustainability by installing LED lighting.
Protecting what works
Both Kent County Council and Turner Contemporary are passionate that this project should reinforce the ethos and mission critical parts of the gallery’s work that are already successful. Victoria explains, ‘Our work with children and young people remains key, education is part of our DNA. We’ve had a really important and innovative learning programme that is not just based around formal education. This was reflected in our design – our learning spaces aren’t stuck down the end of a corridor; they are at the heart of our building and we do lots from outside of the gallery spaces as well as things like pop-up learning.’
Advice for others
Taking the time to get the scheme right and built on good data has been important for this project. Victoria expresses this as, ‘You need to enter into a dialogue with people, hold focus groups and so on, you really need users to give their thoughts. Yes, this is more time-consuming, but we believe absolutely this is the way places should be designed.’ Lucy agrees: ‘You shouldn’t rush the process of getting the plan right, if you do it shows. Sometimes you do have to go down different routes, but you shouldn’t be afraid of this, it is good to have space for exploration.’
Thinking about advice for other local authority officers she adds, ‘It’s important to make sure the background work is done, that you’ve got evidence of need. People who aren’t directly involved in the project [at the Council] do have a right to question it, so you need clear evidence behind all your decisions and all the right processes in place.’
Ambition clearly comes across as a critical ingredient for both Kent County Council and Turner Contemporary, linked to long-term thinking. In Victoria’s words, ‘Ambition and vision are key. In the early years getting the project right felt hard but if the vision is compelling enough, if you’ve honed the arguments, it galvanises people.’
