The delay to the London Symphony Orchestra’s planned new home is growing. And unrest in Iran could trouble a V&A show
Wanted: a philanthropist to cough up about £145m towards London’s proposed Centre for Music. For that amount – about half the total cost of what will be the London Symphony Orchestra’s new home – you’ll get naming rights. The plan for the centre was put forward in 2015, just as Simon Rattle was announced as the LSO’s new music director. It is to be built on the site of the existing Museum of London, at the western edge of the City – 500 metres from the Barbican, the LSO’s longtime base.
But only last Monday did the museum finally submit its planning application for its own new location, at the disused end of London’s Smithfield market. Assuming the City corporation gives the green light later this year to the stylish proposed design, the museum will begin the very complicated process of transforming the historic market buildings before it can move.
