In 1999 the government of Iceland decided to allocate funds for the development of cultural houses outside of the Reykjavík area with the aim to reinforce the facilities for cultural and artistic operations while strengthening the operations of that sector. In a government meeting on February 11, 2003 they decided to allocate 1 billion IKR to construct cultural houses in Akureyri and Vestmannaeyjar. On April 7 that same year Tómas Ingi Olrich, the minister of culture and education at that time and Kristján Þór Júlíusson, the mayor of Akureyri at that time, signed an agreement on the construction of a cultural building in Akureyri. A management for the project was established, which made a proposal about the operations of the planned cultural house. The house was supposed to be about 3500 m2 and the overall cost would not be more than 1,2 billion IKR at the price of april 2003.