By Andrew Clark [Financial Times, 24 January 2006]

The history of Britain's civic culture-palaces these past 30 years is not something UK plc can be proud of. Despite endless tweaking, the Barbican's concert hall in London still looks and sounds like a conference venue. The Wales Millennium Centre was conceived as an opera house but operates like an entertainment emporium. Belfast's Waterfront Hall was built on too grand a scale to serve the needs of the city's orchestra. As for Glasgow's Royal Concert Hall, it has the visual and acoustical aura of a hotel.