The City of London’s jinxed £288m Centre for Music project has been scrapped.

The City Corporation made the announcement this afternoon, along with a pledge to launch an international design competition to find an architect to spruce up the Barbican Centre instead.

The concert hall scheme, designed by Diller Scofidio & Renfro after a previous international competition, had been looking shaky for some time. The most recent doubts were cast last month when Simon Rattle, the conductor for whom it was being built, announced he was leaving the London Symphony Orchestra to return to Germany.

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