V&A Dundee has generated £304 million for the Scottish economy in the five years since it opened, according to a new independent impact report published today.
Marking the museum’s fifth birthday later this week, the research announcement suggests the design museum generated a gross value added (GVA) impact of £234m since its opening in 2019, in addition to a £70m GVA impact from the construction of the museum, alongside cultural and social benefits for Dundee and Scotland.
The research, conducted by BOP Consulting and tialt, reports there have been a total of 1.7 million visits, including 500,000 people who came to Dundee for the first time as part of trips to the museum.
The report also says the museum’s creation has contributed 1,685 jobs to Scotland, including 450 in Dundee, according to data from April to September this year. The Total GVA economic impact to Dundee is estimated at £109m.
The museum’s birthday will be celebrated on Saturday 16 September with free music performances and festivities, free access to its Tartan exhibition, and the opening of a new permanent display on the museum’s architecture, Stories from the Building.
The permanent new display on the ground floor will introduce visitors to the architecture, design, engineering, and construction stories behind the creation of V&A Dundee.
Shona Robison, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Scottish Government, said: “Despite the enormous challenge of a global pandemic V&A Dundee has emerged as a site which draws unprecedented numbers of visitors to the city and it has created high-quality jobs directly, as well as to contractors and to those working in the wider creative economy.
Leonie Bell, Director of V&A Dundee, added: “We’ve engaged over 1.7 million people through exhibitions, events, learning and community activities, and with the architecture and engineering of our spectacular home, designed by Kengo Kuma.
“As we look to the next five years, we will remain ambitious, deepen our social impact in Dundee, reach out further across Scotland, and do more to champion design from Scotland and around the world.”
