By statute, the operations were the responsibility of a minister of state from 1902[6] to 2003[7] and the property occupied for the purposes of the Institute, and of the same name, was held separately by Trustees as a charity asset.

In 1999, prior to the end of the statutory regime, arrangements were made for both the property and the operations to be transferred to a company limited by guarantee also called the Commonwealth Institute.

The organisation in corporate form proved not to be viable and in 2002 the members resolved to close the operations and sell the property which was too costly for the charity to maintain.

[12] Following this it was put into liquidation[13] and the net proceeds were vested by the members of the company in a successor registered charity, The Commonwealth Education Trust[14][15] is now based at New Zealand House in Central London.

The Imperial Institute was established in 1888 to hold and apply the property and assets arising from the contributions given almost exclusively by private citizens from across the Empire[16] in a nationwide collection conceived by the then Prince of Wales in 1886 to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887.

[20] The building proved too large for the institute's needs and when HMG wished to find a home for the University of London, a transfer of leases was agreed in 1899 under which the institute assigned its 999-year lease (with the consent of the landlord) to the Commissioners of Works, who contemporaneously sub-let back to it approximately half of the building, free of rent and rates and with the benefit of various communal services including maintenance, heating and lighting.

[29] Its purposes were reconfigured with a change in prominence from the exhibition galleries, to the promotion of "the commercial industrial and educational interests of the British Empire".

This reflected the arrangements made in 1899 under which the institute (then a royal charter company) was granted a fully repairing lease in exchange for releasing, at the request of the government, approximately one half of its building for the use of the University of London.

In 1962, the Commonwealth Institute moved to a distinctive copper-roofed building on Kensington High Street, immediately south of Holland Park.

[48] Some work was approved, but the roof continued to leak, and by 1988 it was reported to the FCO that £700,000 was needed for the building to be structurally safe, with internal and essential modernisations being "likely to cost £5m".

[51][52] With a background of high maintenance costs, the activities continued, but with an increasing emphasis on revenue generation,[53][54] and various proposals were explored for commercial development of the site.

The statutes governing the Institute were not repealed until 2003 (with the Commonwealth Act 2002)[7] at which time the remainder of the original Victorian endowment fund was also released to the company without restrictions.

In a general meeting in late 2002, the members agreed to the disposal of the building and to the application of the proceeds (following the settlement of all obligations) to advancing education in the Commonwealth.

[76] The liquidation proved to be long and complex, and was only completed in 2015[77] after a High Court hearing settled a number of uncertainties associated with the manner in which the assets had come into the hands of the company from the responsible Minister and the Commonwealth Institute Trustees prior to the repeal of the legislation in 2003.

[82] The project was funded by the British government which was obliged to compensate the Trustees for the loss of the substantial Imperial Institute building (described by Louis Bondy as in the front rank of Victorian monumental architecture).

Contributions of materials and grants from Commonwealth countries were sought to augment the small sum of money that the Exchequer had allowed for the new building.

Other design and construction faults emerged relatively soon after completion, which in part stemmed from the restricted budget, and the building proved very costly to run and maintain.

A large picture window facing the park was included to postpone the desire for escape that the four solid walls of many art galleries quickly engender.

The cinema beneath the art gallery was designed for daily showings of Commonwealth news and interest films but was adaptable for other purposes.

[91] On 22 July 2005 the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Tessa Jowell, rejected a proposal to remove the building's listed status, considered as an obstacle to realising the full potential of the Trust's assets in a report by property consultants to the Commonwealth Institute Trustees.

A planning brief, issued by the local council in August 2007, called for the preservation of the main structure of the building, preferably for use such as an art gallery that would retain its essential components.

They included construction of three six- to nine-story residential buildings, replacing the former Administration wing, and large-scale internal modifications to the interior of the main structure, to enable its use by the Design Museum.