The Cultural Endowment Fund's investment grant comes to €62 million.

The fund's chair, Minister of Culture Heidy Purga (Reform) said: "The Cultural Endowment's board unanimously approved moving forward with ERR's new TV complex."

A meeting on Wednesday saw the board authorize Margus Allikmaa, head of the Cultural Endowment Fund, to begin preparing a contract with ERR for the allocation of the €62 million, with payments to be spread out over several years.

Before the contract is signed, it must be presented to the board for approval.

The board decided on Wednesday that given the almost complete depreciation of the current TV house and its studios, located on Gonsiori in central Tallinn, these will be sold for demolition.

The board also stated that the construction of the new TV house will not create additional capacities that could alter the Estonian media market landscape, but would instead constitute an update of the existing ones.

The sum is also to be paid in installments over several years to make sure that in no single year does ERR's budget rise by more than 20 percent as a result of the same investment grant.

The specified grant constitutes a part of ERR's annual budget as drawn up in the state budget, and does not require a separate notification.

Minister Purga last week proposed the board fund the construction of the new ERR TV house as a nationally significant cultural building, with the same sum of up to €62 million.

In a letter sent to the Cultural Endowment Fund and dated May 10, Purga highlighted that the board, upon the Minister of Culture's proposal, may choose to fund one nationally significant cultural building if and when sufficient financial resources are available, and provided doing so does not affect the completion of other nationally significant cultural buildings as confirmed by the Riigikogu.

"Hereby, the Minister of Culture has submitted the aforementioned proposal to support the funding of ERR's new TV house as a nationally significant cultural building," the minister noted in her communique.

This in effect extended by one the list of around half-a-dozen culturally significant buildings.

The new TV house is expected to be completed and online in 2027.

The total cost of the complex is approximately €77 million. ERR is to obtain the €15 million balance from the sale of the current TV house and also of property it owns on Tuisu tänav, also in the capital.

Margus Allikmaa was ERR's board chair 2007-2017.

The architectural plans for the new building, to be located between the current Radio House (Raadio maja) and News Hours (Uudistemaja) in a plot currently used as a staff parking lot (see cover image), were approved back in 2019, but the project was subject to various delays. In the meantime, construction prices have soared.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!