Bringing the V&A at Dundee completely inland would have saved more than £6 million but was an “unacceptable compromise”, according to the museum’s director.
Philip Long hailed the beginning of construction work as a “historic moment” and categorically rejected claims that it was known from the beginning of the project its original £45 million budget was unrealistic.
It was revealed in January that the cost of V&A Dundee had risen to £80.1m and the attraction would not now open until summer 2018.
Mr Long said savings had already been identified, adding: “As we developed the project, aspects of the design have been modified and, working with Kengo Kuma and his team, we consistently brought back improvements to the project.
“One thing we looked at over the last year was the possibility of bringing the building completely on land. That would have made a significant cost saving of around £6.5m.
“But the firm view of all of the project partners and of the design team was that that would be an unacceptable compromise to the project.
“We want to build the best here in Dundee. We think that Dundee deserves this investment.”
Mr Long denied it was known from “day one” the project could not be built for £45m.
He said: “I don’t accept that at all. The project team have worked very hard through the development to keep the building within the budget.
“When the project went out to tender the advice that we were receiving was that it remained in budget.
“So we have been very conscientious of our responsibilities to work to the budget,” he said.
“We are doing absolutely everything we can and taking all the measures we can to make sure that is the case.
“A great deal of work has gone on in the last months.”
He added: “Site huts are beginning to arrive and hoardings will go up around the site, then the construction of the coffer dam out in the Tay, which will be a very exciting part of the project.
“We must remember that today is a historic moment and we are moving forward with the project.”
Scottish Government Culture Secretary Fiona Hyslop said: “The V&A is an ambitious project and it has the backing of the people of Dundee.
“We’ve got to get it right and that’s why it’s taken time. This is why we’re now in the position of a fixed-price contract.
“But this is a groundbreaking ceremony in more ways than one.
“We have to have confidence and you have to be ambitious and that’s not always as easy a process as people think.”