Why has the cost of an Edinburgh theatre revamp soared?

The Herald Scotland

a day ago

But by the end of 2018, leading architects Bennetts Associates had been appointed and had unveiled designs for the new-look venue, with the project then priced at £20m.
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The revamp was aimed at securing the long-term future of the King's, with key elements include a new stage, long-awaited improvements to backstage facilities and a new fly tower.
Other planned additions included a ground-floor café-bar and box office, and an overhaul for the top of the building to create a new a studio space for workshops, classes and events.
A new fly tower has been installed at the King's Theatre in Edinburgh as part of its ongoing revamp. (Image: John Robb)
Within months of the designs being unveiled to widespread approval, the project had been plunged into uncertainty by the Covid pandemic.
Capital Theatres was forced to put the revamp on hold indefinitely while it grappled with the impact of prolonged Covid restrictions on both the King's and the Festival Theatre, which it is also responsible for.
The revamp of the King's Theatre is already running three years later than planned. (Image: John Robb)
Although the cost of the project had increased to £25m by the start of 2022, it appeared to be firmly back on track by then after the Scottish Government, the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Edinburgh City Council had all made significant funding commitments.
Work was meant to get underway in September 2022, after the final performances during that year's Edinburgh International Festival.
But before the end of the 2022 festival, Capital Theatres was being forced to rally support from performers including Alan Cumming, Brian Cox and Gabriel Byrne for a new campaign to bridge a growing funding gap threatening the viability of the project and the future of the King's.
Soaring construction industry costs and inflation would see the price tag soar to £35.6m by the start of 2023, when Capital Theatres warned the project was at risk of being abandoned and the King's forced to close completely unless it could bridge an £8.9 million funding gap.
With a new budget of £35.6m set, work was able to begin within weeks after the Scottish Government and Edinburgh City Council committed £3.85m and £3m respectively, while the UK Government had confirmed a further £2m worth of support by the end of 2023.
However hopes of the venue reopening by the summer of 2025 were dashed last October when it emerged that some of the work had proven to be much more complicated than anticipated.
Key factors included the discovery of "bedrock" much closer to the surface of the area earmarked for one of the new lifts, the complexity of the demolition of previous staircases and the old fly tower, a number of design changes and the need to bring in a new sub-contractor.
Nine months after Capital Theatres announced that the planned reopening of the King's had been put back to the spring of 2026, it has still not revealed a new estimated cost of finishing the project - or how much it needs to raise to get the revamp back on track.