Dulwich Picture Gallery gets go-ahead for £4.6m redevelopment

Dulwich Picture Gallery has received planning permission for its biggest redevelopment in over 20 years.

The £4.6m transformation will include the addition of a interactive sculpture garden and a new building for families, both located in previously inaccessible areas of the gallery’s three-acre garden.

Architects Carmody Groarke will design the new pavilion building and an extension for the site’s existing cottage, which will both be constructed with lightweight timber frames to ensure low embodied carbon construction.

The new structures will be used to provide activities focused on art and creative play for school groups and young children.

Leading landscape artist Kim Wilkie has been selected to design the new outdoor gallery and to transform an underutilised field into a meadow and ‘art forest’, which will host a new biennial sculpture competition. The addition of 150 new trees and the sowing of wildflowers will enhance biodiversity by an estimated 17%.

As part of the gallery’s push towards environmental sustainability, a new ground source heat pump will be installed to decarbonise the existing gallery’s heating systems and to supply new buildings.

The gallery will remain open throughout the construction period, which is scheduled to start this winter and to finish in early 2025.

“The vision for Open Art is grounded in the principles of innovation and inclusion which have defined the gallery since we first opened to the public in 1817,” said Jennifer Scott, Director of Dulwich Picture Gallery.

“This exciting project will transform our green spaces into London’s only gallery-based sculpture garden, providing new creative experiences for everyone and inspiring the artists of the future.”