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Cost of saving Cutty Sark soars to £40m as rust eats into hull
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter9 Jan 2009
THE cost of conserving the Cutty Sark has soared to £40million, the Evening Standard can reveal today.
The re-opening of the tea clipper to visitors has also been delayed until the summer of next year at the earliest.
The setback is a result of severe corrosion to the ship's iron hull which has been revealed during conservation work. Competition with the 2012 Olympics for the best workers and contractors is also adding to costs, prompting fears of a funding shortfall.
The Standard was given exclusive access to the ship this week to witness progress on its transformation once again into a major tourist attraction.
The iron hull, stripped of wooden planks, has not been seen since it was built in Scotland in 1869.
When completed, the ship will be raised 10ft above the ground at its current berth in Greenwich, allowing the public to walk under its keel.
But the head of the Cutty Sark Trust warned today several million pounds more may now have to be raised to pay for steel supports for the rusting hull.
A fire, which appeared to ravage the Cutty Sark in May 2007 but caused less damage than feared, has nevertheless put the opening back at least two years. This delay and the rusting have added as much as £15million to the original £25million price of the project.
Richard Doughty, the Cutty Sark Trust's chief executive, said: "The cost of the project could rise to somewhere between £38million and £40million.
"The project should have been completed by now but because of the fire it is instead running into a period when the Olympics construction work is happening. The Olympics factor has undoubtedly pushed up the cost."
Mr Doughty said that stripping back the ship to its streamlined iron hull has also revealed far more damage.
"The condition of the wrought-iron is in places worse than we feared. Particularly on the prow and stern, the corrosion has gone absolutely wild and there is no metal left in places. This damage is nothing to do with the fire - it is all down to the London rain and salt in the metal work." About half the iron frame has now been stripped of rust, cleaned up and covered with specialised paints to prevent further corrosion. The work is painstaking.
Meanwhile, the wooden planks which covered the frame - and which due to their thickness remarkably survived the 2007 blaze - have been removed for treatment off-site.
Mr Doughty estimates only about twoper cent of the ship's original components, including decking, were lost in the fire. The blaze was caused by an industrial vacuum cleaner that had been left on over a weekend. Legal action is likely to follow.
Critical parts of the ship - such as the masts - had already been removed to Chatham for conservation work.
The trust has so far raised £36million in pledged donations - including £23million from the Heritage Lottery Fund - leaving a funding shortfall of as much as £4million.
Mr Doughty said a public appeal will be launched nearer the time of the official opening. There are also fears some of the money pledged may not be so easily turned into hard cash in the current economic crisis. Mr Doughty insisted, however, that the trust had no foreseeable "cashflow" problems.
● Progress on the Cutty Sark can be seen at the trust's stand at the London International Boat Show, held at the ExCel centre in Docklands from today until 18 January.
Reader views (12)
Unbeliveable waste of money- criminal
You could have built a number of replicas
Sort of sums up everything that is wrong with the UK
- Grantreid, london uk, 12/01/2009 14:00
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A complete waste of money, nothing will be gained from doing this, £40 million could do so much more for London.
- Dylan, London, 10/01/2009 15:32
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Entropy - its a fact of life. Face it and move on.
- Rogan, Irving, 09/01/2009 19:18
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Further to my earlier comment I find it ironic that so slap-dash has some people's conduct become, that someone involved with the Cutty Sark restoration ended up setting fire to the ship which had survived so many adventures. Let's hope we find who left the vacuum cleaner on (reputed to have caused the fire) and can sue for sufficient damages to help make up for the shortfall in restoration funds. Incidentally, the severe corrosion in the iron structure is disappointing considering the schemes which have been tried to stop such corrosion over the last 20 years. Obviously the treatment was so ineffectual that perhaps WD-40 sprayed liberally around would have been better...
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 09/01/2009 17:31
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The Cutty Sark is an important part of our cultural heritage and it is vital she is restored and preserved. Compared to the Vanity Project that is the 2012 Olympics, £40 million is a small price to pay.
- Cally G, Essex, UK, 09/01/2009 17:05
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under 40 and very interested.
The Cutty Sark is very important to this country.
History is a major influence on who we are today.
- Liberal Thinker, UK, 09/01/2009 16:47
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I posted my earlier comment as I'm now at the grand old age of 42 and I actually found (and still do) this old tea clipper interesting.I'm sad that the younger generation will find absolutely nothing of interest for them here.My comment may have come across somewhat venomous but this is aimed at our youth and our younger generation in general.
For that reason alone,it is a terrible waste of money.It's sad but true.
- Steve, London, 09/01/2009 15:46
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Steve of London's comment is chillingly apt as to the attitude of some of the brain-dead people under 40 (as he puts it) who have complete ignorance of history, no curiosity, no sense of grandeur-they are just walking consumption-zombies who haven't got the imagination to visualize the Cutty Sark in her glory days sailing the oceans. Sad isn't it?
- Jon Kent, Hertford. UK, 09/01/2009 14:56
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this is quickly becoming £40,000,000 of triggers 'broom' - only 5 new handles and 7 new heads, and still as good as the day he bought it! Honestley, £40m for some wood.......should have gone to MFI.
- Gary, amersham, 09/01/2009 13:54
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When I visited the Cutty Sark before its current restoration project began, it left one of the deepest impressions on me: Walking on the drydock floor around & below it, I admired its hull as a graceful sculpture with a practical purpose; a testament to the ingenuity & experience of our ancestors. While on its deck, I imagined the endurance & skill of its crew, in surviving @ sea for months at a stretch - All to bring our famous national drink home, from halfway round the world. Our maritime history's played an important role in shaping us, & in many ways we still rely on the sea to survive: This ship can remind us of this, & also inspire & educate posterity - So, it deserves to be preserved...
- Dr I N Dyson, Oxford, GB, 09/01/2009 13:40
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What a total waste of money - get the plans from the shipyard who built her and build a new one.
- James, London UK, 09/01/2009 12:23
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Why bother?Who's interested in this vessel anymore anyway?Certainly no one under the age of 40.
- Steve, London, 09/01/2009 11:19
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