Why was the present site chosen?
It is in an area devoted to the arts, with the Royal Festival and Queen Elizabeth Halls, the Purcell Room, the Hayward Gallery, the National Film Theatre and the Museum of the Moving Image. It is central and accessible to public transport. It is also in one of London’s most magnificent situations, overlooking a beautiful reach of the Thames, with superb views across to Somerset House and the river curving up to St Paul’s.
