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Coventry Ikea project labelled ‘flatpack fantasy’

BBC A man in a dark grey suit with a navy tie stands in front of a blue and grey clad buildingBBC
Coventry City Council's Conservative opposition leader Gary Ridley wants the authority to stop investing in the scheme

Plans to transform the landmark former Ikea building in Coventry into a cultural venue have been labelled a “flatpack fantasy”.

Conservative opposition councillors have called for no more public money to be spent on the scheme to transform the site after council-appointed contractors ISG entered administration.

But the Labour leadership insisted it was committed to the Cultural Gateway plan to convert the building into storage for nationally important artworks.

They said the project would eventually pay for itself.

The cost has not been publicly disclosed, but the BBC has seen private reports that predicted capital expenditure for the project would reach £60.1m.

That figure is now expected to rise after ISG collapsed just two months after being appointed by the council.

A blue and grey clad building with a yellow sign that says Ikea in the upper right side, the left of the building is covered in glass
The building was the UK's first city centre Ikea when it opened in 2007, but it has been empty since the furniture giant closed its doors in 2020

Councillor Gary Ridley, leader of the Conservative opposition in Coventry, said ISG’s failure “raises huge questions over due diligence at the council” and it was “looking more and more like a financial black hole each day”.

He added: “It raises huge questions over whether further taxpayers’ funding is needed to salvage this flatpack fantasy.”

A man in a light grey suit with a grey tie that has pink and yellow spots is standing outdoors. The background is out of focus but trees, a large building, and pedestrians can be seen.
Labour cabinet member for communities Naeem Akhtar said the project was "not just a fantasy"

The seven floor building opened in 2007 and closed in February 2020. It has the equivalent of 7.5 football pitches of floor space.

But, despite the scale of the project, the council said it was confident of finding a new contractor and is currently in talks with two firms.

Councillor Naeem Akhtar, Labour cabinet member for communities in Coventry, said it was not fair to suggest the council should have predicted ISG’s downfall and pointed towards the large number of government contracts held by the firm.

He added: “The cost of delivering this project will be recovered through the rent of our partners, because this is a fully costed project. It’s not just a fantasy.”

A large grey and blue clad building, which has a large glass section in the centre and another to the right of the building. It sits in front a road junction with traffic lights, some cars are visible on the road
The building has gone through some refurbishment, but it was paused following the collapse of ISG

Two of the partners involved in the project are Arts Council England and Coventry University. Both told the BBC they remained committed to the project despite the latest setback.

The transformation of the former furniture shop into a cultural venue is supposed to be a concrete legacy of the city’s year as 2021 UK City of Culture.

But it has now become the latest in a series of setbacks after the year of celebrations was disrupted by the Covid pandemic and the charity tasked with overseeing the celebrations and legacy projects went bust in 2023.

A man wearing a black overcoat on top of a navy suit with a red and grey striped tie looks towards the camera and smiles. He is standing in front of a road junction, a building and some trees are visible in the background
Paul Maddocks, from Coventry Society, wants the council to get on with work

Paul Maddocks from Coventry Society - an organisation which aims to promote the improvement of the city - said he wanted the council to get on with the work.

“At the moment we’ve got lots of development going on and it’s all closed down. It makes the whole place look depressing really.”

Coventry City Council said it hoped to be able to provide an update on the future of the project in the coming weeks.

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