The Southbank Centre, London, is to receive funding from Arts Council England to carry out part of the much need conservation project across the site.

The £16.7m grant will fund the repair and maintenance of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Purcell Room and the Hayward Gallery. Starting in 2015, the project will begin to address an accumulated backlog of £24m worth of repairs.

Arts Council England will meet 70 per cent of the required conservation budget, while the Centre is planning to raise the rest of the funds from trusts, philanthropists and audiences.

Rick Haythornthwaite, chairman of the Southbank Centre, said: “We are very grateful to Arts Council England for so generously supporting the urgent repair… This is an important step for Southbank Centre following the delay to our Festival Wing scheme in February.”

Previously, the site's masterplan by Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (FCB) has come in for harsh criticism, with plans grounding to a halt in February of this year. The Centre’s proposal for a new Festival wing, which would require the relocation of a popular skatepark from the undercroft of Queen Elizabeth Hall to the Hungerford Bridge, was met with fierce opposition. The project stalled, resulting in a three month hiatus and the Centre has been forced to withhold the scheme until early 2015.

However, English Heritage firmly supports the Centre’s restoration. Simon Hickman, inspector of historic buildings and areas said: “These buildings reflect radical changes in British society during the era of their design and creation. Their conservation could not be further delayed”. The funding will be used to replace essential building services, improve infrastructure, restore the buildings interiors and exteriors and replicate the iconic Hayward Gallery Pyramid roof.