A review by the National Audit Office (NAO) of 15 major Arts Council England (ACE) projects concludes that most are performing as planned, however, many ran over budget.

NAO head, Sir John Bourn, said: It is pleasing that most of the 15 projects are now delivering the intended benefits to the public.However, he continued: It is disappointing that two have had to close and that on most, the construction work did not go to plan, with delays and overruns resulting in 10 of them needing additional Lottery funding.

Sheffield's National Centre for Popular Music closed in June 2000 as a result of difficulties primarily caused by it receiving far fewer visitors than anticipated. Of the £11m of lottery funding invested in the project, ACE expects to recoup only about £500,000 from the sale of the building.

In November 2001, the £7.5m Dovecot Arts Centre in Stockton-on-Tees also closed, suffering from high operating costs and missed box office and other income targets. ACE is, however, working on plans for an alternative arts use for the building.

Thirteen of the 15 projects were over budget - with cost increases ranging from 1.7 to 58 per cent, for a total financial overrun of nearly £94m. Ten required additional lottery funding totalling £33m. Additionally, the completion of nine of the sites was delayed by periods ranging from a month to over a year.

The Arts Council is now looking to increase its own project monitoring, to obtain more accurate estimates of design and cost and to make arts groups better able to organise the administration of projects. Apart from the two closed sites, the review looked at the Cambridge Arts Centre, Malvern Festival Theatre, the National Glass Centre, the Royal Exchange Theatre, Victoria Hall and Regent Theatre, Milton Keynes Theatre, the Royal Opera House, the Royal Court Theatre, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, Sadlers Wells Theatre, the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal National Theatre. Details: www.nao.gov.uk