After more than 10 years of planning, Dundee’s Victoria and Albert museum finally opened to the public on September 15 2018.
Before that though, it was time to party!
Scots rockers Primal Scream helped to usher in this bold new era for Dundee after being chosen to headline the V&A Friday night concert ahead of its opening.
An enormous light and firework spectacular followed which was witnessed by a crowd that was mostly full of under-26s, highlighting this was a new age for the city.
But it was Glaswegian singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi who stole the show which was one of his first just months before the release of his hit single Someone You Loved.
The long-awaited V&A opened to the public the following morning once the dust had settled on a Friday night concert that will live long in the memory.
How it all began for the V&A Dundee
In the early 2000s, Dundee’s waterfront area was described as “a collection of widely despised buildings and badly laid-out roads, managing to create dirty coal from what should be a diamond of a setting on the banks of the Tay estuary”.
Change was needed.
A waterfront development plan was later drawn up with multi-million ambitions to transform the area into somewhere the city could be rightly proud of.
The new vision would lead to the eradication of the unsightly Tayside House, old Olympia leisure centre and the Stakis Earl Grey hotel from the landscape.
The V&A would eventually become its new centrepiece.
Laying the foundations
Back in 2007 an enquiry was made by the University of Dundee to explore the idea of bringing the V&A to the city.
This was at a time when other cultural institutions such as Guggenheim and Tate had been expanding to new cities.
The Scottish Government was approached and were supportive before Abertay University and Scottish Enterprise subsequently got involved.
Momentum was now building.
A feasibility study reported the prospect of hundreds of new jobs for Dundee alongside a shot in the arm for the local economy from millions of visitors.
Feasibility study now completed, the next step was to find a source of funding.
The Scottish Government agreed to donate funds to the construction of the building, which would enable the fundraising committee to focus their efforts elsewhere.
Which they did.
An international competition was launched with 120 architects submitting designs for the planned museum before being narrowed down to a shortlist of six.
These designs were put on display at the Abertay University library where more than 13,000 people visited over five weeks to give their take on the plans.
Japanese architect Kengo Kuma won the competition with a design inspired by light, nature and traditional building techniques.
V&A director Sir Mark Jones said the design offered “fantastic spaces to exhibit stunning design collections”.
Kuma said: “It will create a strong integration between the inside and the outside of the museum, creating an offer not only to all the visitors that the museum will attract from outside Dundee, but also to Dundee’s citizens who will be able to appreciate the museum spaces as a part of their city, and will be invited to live it as such.”
The Dundee V&A was granted planning permission in September 2012 with the 7,000 square metre museum being constructed on land next to Discovery Point.
Construction begins
The £80.11m project was funded by the Scottish Government, the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund and Creative Scotland, Dundee City Council, the UK Government, Scottish Enterprise, University of Dundee, Abertay University and a successful private fundraising campaign.
Construction of the V&A began in 2015.
A temporary cofferdam made from 12,500 tonnes of stone was used to help the construction company build an access road around its perimeter.
It left a corner of the new museum protruding into the River Tay.
In June 2017, the exterior of the building was completed when its 2,429 pre-cast concrete panels were lifted into place.
The size, shape and placement of these were varied to create changing patterns of shadows as the sun moved around the museum.
In February 2018, Kuma visited the completed building for the first time.
It was then announced that the V&A would officially open on September 15 during a free two-day 3D Festival.
The festival was to be a celebration of the very best of Scottish design, music and performance, with Primal Scream headlining a Friday night concert at Slessor Gardens.
Around 20,000 people were expected to attend the free festival in celebration of the museum’s opening.
A cast of hundreds of school-age kids led a mass-participation dance event which paid homage to Dundee’s nautical past, its gaming legacy and Dennis of Beano fame.
Then it was time for Lewis Capaldi to take to the stage.
The 21-year-old was starting to make a name for himself and had by this point picked up several awards despite not yet having released his first album.
When he took to the stage, he joked: “If you don’t like chubby guys singing sad songs you’re not going to enjoy this.”
Rock legends Primal Scream closed the celebrations.
The band chose the occasion to unveil a brand-new collaboration with contemporary visual artist, and former Turner Prize nominee, Jim Lambie.
Lambie, of course, was also the flatmate of Primal Scream’s tambourine player, Joogs, who was a member of the band in the late 80s.
The collaboration combined the psychedelic imagery that the Scottish band are known for with their most iconic songs.
Lambie’s visuals, shown on the large screen behind the band, created an immersive experience with streams of coloured spotlights and a series of neon animations.
While on stage, lead singer Bobby Gillespie pleaded with the Dundonians to make the most of their new gallery.
He said: “It’s great to be here tonight and amazing that you’ve got this new V&A museum.
“I hope you make great use of it and that it’ll inspire new generations of artists to come to Dundee.”
The band made their way through top hits such as Loaded, Country Girl, Come Together, Rocks, and Movin’ On Up, before the show ended with an enormous light and firework display.
There was more music the following day at Slessor Gardens which included a very special performance from former Danny Wilson frontman Gary Clark.
That was also the day that the V&A finally opened to an excited public and started life by showcasing its first exhibition titled Ocean Liners.
Running until February 24 2019, the exhibition was a series of objects which aimed to showcase the engineering, interior design, and lifestyle on board the ocean liners.
Decorative wall panels, silk dresses from the 1920s, and a series of posters advertising the excursions filled the new design museum – along with Titanic memorabilia.
The museum was officially opened four months later in January 2019 by Prince William and his wife Kate Middleton – now known as the Prince and Princess of Wales.
They visited the design museum in the early morning, where the Princess became the V&A’s first royal patron.
Hollywood royalty then took centre stage in June 2019 when Dundee’s Brian Cox returned home with the Succession gang to film an episode of the HBO smash at the V&A.
The makers decided his character Logan Roy should come from Dundee, just like the actor, with the episode made memorable by Kendall Roy’s ‘L to the OG’ rap.
The museum also hosted the BBC Antiques Roadshow in June 2019 and welcomed its one millionth visitor in February 2020 before triumph turned to tragedy.
V&A Dundee closed in March 2020 during the global pandemic before reopening in August with the Mary Quant exhibition which ran until December.
However, a second Covid-19 lockdown saw the successful museum shuttered before reopening again in 2021 which of course had an effect on visitor numbers.
But there was still a sense of optimism.
Visitor numbers were strong after its reopening, and it still sees those strong numbers today.
The museum has since become home to the city’s UNESCO City of Design designation which has already brought collaboration on a range of projects and partnerships, including the Dundee Design Festival in 2021 which is now a biennial event.
Currently, V&A Dundee is running the exhibition Sincerely, Valentines – From Postcards to Greetings Cards, which tells the story of Dundee’s iconic card company and its impact on Dundee’s social, cultural and industrial heritage.
The V&A – part of Dundee’s new post-industrial landscape – has come a long way since those early University of Dundee planning meetings back in the 2000s.
In the city of survival, Dundee V&A has persevered through setbacks and lockdowns since opening and continues to showcase the best of the design world.
Many happy returns!
Conversation