Saatchi Gallery to open within two months

"This is the most iconic collection of contemporary works of art in the world," Saatchi spokesman William Miller told the Reuters news agency last week during a tour of the building.

The gallery will be the latest addition to the South Bank's lineup of cultural attractions: "We will complete culture mile, which runs from Tate Britain at one end to Shakespeare's Globe at the other, taking in the Hayward Gallery, the Royal Festival Hall, the National Theatre and the Tate Modern on the way," Miller added.

The reclusive Saatchi, who made his fortune in advertising with his brother Maurice, has over the past two decades amassed an eclectic collection that currently includes over 2,000 pieces. Parts of the collection were previously exhibited at the gallery's previous St John's Wood home.

Unlike Tate Modern on Bankside, the new Saatchi Gallery will make a charge for admission. It will join the bizarre mix of tenants at County Hall, the former seat of London's government, which include the London Aquarium, the Namco Station computer games centre and two hotels.