167 flats planned for Tate Britain

The Tate gallery is set to build 167 flats with prices up to £5 million each in a bid to raise cash for new gallery space.

It wants to build the flats and two blocks of offices on a prime development site in Pimlico.

The project includes two blocks of one to four-bedroom flats and office blocks up to 10 storeys in an investment programme costing tens of millions.

Profits from selling the homes and leasing the offices are potentially vast. One-bedroom flats in Pimlico go for more than £300,000, while four-bedroom flats can cost up to £5million.

The plans include 44 "affordable" flats for key workers and the development will be on the site of the unused Queen Alexandra military hospital, which lies next to Tate Britain.

The hospital will be demolished and the Tate also wants to upgrade the front of the main building, modernise the rest of the original site and add a rear extension. The aim is to provide exhibition space and public facilities to match those at Tate Modern.

A statement from the Tate, seen by Building magazine, says: "The trustees wish to provide at Millbank an architecturally distinguished and effective headquarters for the whole of the Tate organisation."

But Westminster council has serious concerns about the plans, especially the demolition of the military hospital. The heights of the new buildings, which could easily be above 100 feet, are also a concern.