By John Alexander, leader of Dundee City Council
An extensive piece of work was carried out in 2015 as the V&A's construction phase was about to get underway looking at the wider impact of the development on the city.
At that time we were predicting an economic boost estimated in the region of £11.6 million a year.
V&A Dundee is expected to generate significant economic benefits including the direct creation of 361 extra jobs across Scotland, 249 of which will be in Dundee. The city's association with the V&A has already had a positive impact in attracting investment like the Malmaison, Sleeperz and Indigo hotels, which taken together represents more than £60m that has created hundreds of additional rooms, and jobs.
Investor interest in Dundee is at an all-time high, with new development taking place at the waterfront, and the genuine prospect of much more to come.
Business confidence is high and we have recently announced American software firm Cherwell's European R&D centre and Chinese Ocean Engineering Shaghai (COES) Co's decommissioning operation at the waterfront.
In the business tourism sector, the city is being put forward for conferences years in advance and our food and drink sector has also seen the opening of dozens of new outlets in recent years.
Already we have seen more visitors coming to Dundee, staying longer and spending more.
Tourism contributed £172m to the Dundee economy in 2017, up 8% on the previous 12 months. Visitors staying at least one night in the city rose by 9.8% to 467,900, while day visitors also increased to 412,520, up 3.2%.
An additional £68m flowed into the city from business events and the 255,000 delegates who attended conferences. Such events secured 48,000 bed nights in hotels in the city during 2016/17 up 7.4% on the previous 12 months.
The V&A sits at the heart of Dundee's wider £1 billion Waterfront regeneration project, where an estimated 4,800 FTE jobs will be created as a result of the development of the Central Waterfront area.
These jobs and the level of investment will help to tackle unemployment throughout the city will assist in improving the lives of Dundonians and positively impact on social issues.
The V&A Museum of Design presents a unique and major opportunity for the city of Dundee, the contribution it will make to realising the council's ambitions and strategies for the city are hugely significant and its completion and opening represent the result of much determined effort over a ten year period by the council and its partners.
But we are not finished yet and as well as further research looking at the economic benefits once the museum is established, work continues to attract visitors and investment to the city.