Bristol's new museum may not be viable, it has been claimed.

The new Museum of Bristol, on the site of the former Bristol Industrial Museum, has already seen its costs spiral to £26 million from an original budget of £19m.

And when it is finished, opposition councillors claim tax payers will have to subsidise its running costs. They believe predictions that it would generate enough income from its cafe and room hire to pay for itself were made before the economic downturn.

The Post can reveal that around £3m is being spent on outside consultants – much of it related to the discovery of asbestos and lead found at the site after work began.

The council claims these were "unforeseen" costs which were not contained in the original budget – but has been told it should have expected to find the hazardous materials in an industrial building from the 1950s when asbestos was still being widely used.

Figures revealed under the Freedom of Information Act show £1.8m has already been spent on hiring outsiders, with another £1.3m to come.

That brings the total consultants bill to £3.1m, which is £395,000 over the original budget for consultancy fees.

It means more than 10 per cent of the current budget will go on the hire of outside experts by the city council to work on the scheme, because no-one within the authority has the necessary skills.

The state-of-the-art museum is being built in the landmark 1950s transit sheds which were home to the former industrial museum, near Prince Street Bridge.

Current estimates put the price tag at £26m, £7m more than originally predicted.

The project has been plagued by delays. The original opening date was July this year, then it was pushed back to early 2010 and it is now set for 2011.

Among the reasons for the delays were the council's inability to find a project manager in the nine months after the former Bristol Industrial Museum closed in October 2006.

Last September the Post revealed the council needed another £1.3m to bolster the project's contingency scheme, and £500,000 to cover costs that should have been paid for by a developer as part of a planning deal for a nearby building scheme which will not now go ahead.

This pushed the bill to £26m, but the city council's Tories say they fear the final price tag could be even higher by the time the work is completed.

The Freedom Of Information Act request was submitted by Conservative party member James Barlow.

He and Councillor Geoff Gollop, Conservative finance spokesman and chairman of the resources scrutiny committee, have criticised overspending on the museum project before.

Mr Gollop said: "Consultancy fees can cover a multitude of sins.

"I would not expect the authority to have in-house skills to build a museum of that quality but if it's paying good money for expertise it's already got, it's a problem.

"I would have expected there to be asbestos in the sheds and it's reasonable to assume there would be a fair amount of lead.

"A lot of this was in the early stages. They had to pay for people to deal with it.

"My understanding is they couldn't get to work as soon as they wanted to, because the site was polluted they had to go through the process of cleaning the land.

"I believe the council was optimistic and chose to ignore the risk.

 

"The cost of running it was to be met in part from hiring out commercial ventures, the cafe and private hire of rooms but any potential commercial income would be severely reduced.

"Whether it's viable, I'm still far from convinced. I fear there will be further overspends to come."

Mr Gollop, who represents Westbury-on-Trym, said if the authority was not able to generate enough money from income it would be forced to fund the museum's running costs through council tax – or would have to cut back on staff and maintenance costs.

Construction and restoration work began on the building last January, and is due to be completed by the end of this year.

Fitting out the galleries and internal spaces will take place throughout 2010 with the museum set to open mid-2011.

The executive councillor responsible for the project, Simon Cook, said: "I was executive member two years ago when the project took off and then the business plan seemed quite robust.

"It's not just reliant on the cafe or private hire, we do have some 'renaissance in the regions' money – government funding to boost museum funding in the regions.

"That has been cut back but we don't yet know by how much that will be reduced for this year.

"Obviously everything in the current financial climate has to be put into that context.

"I'm not saying the business plan will fail but there might be an effect on the cafe and conference room.

"There may well be a greater revenue burden for a short period of time but I understand we have enough contingency for that.

"It is not opening until 2011 and it may well be that the economy is on an upward trend by then.

"The Tories appear to be judging it as if it was opening tomorrow."

A council spokesman said: "As with all major projects, the build has encountered unexpected problems that needed to be addressed such as, for example, ground contamination.

"Consultant costs were extended to cover the additional time on site rectifying the problems met.

 

"We're creating an exciting, fantastic new museum for the people of Bristol and we intend to get it right. It will be a flagship attraction for the city and will set the benchmark for city history museums nationally and internationally."