B&Q founder David Quayle is offering to come to the rescue of Eastleigh's beleaguered Beatrice Royal Contemporary Art Gallery.

The shutters went up on the pioneering gallery housed in a converted church in Nightingale Avenue five months ago when eight staff were made redundant.

The Beatrice Royal, which nestles in the heart of a housing estate, was opened in May 1994 following Mr Quayle's dream of creating a super-gallery. Under his leadership it became the largest gallery in the south and doubled its 5,000 square foot size in 1999 after a £1m lottery grant through the Arts Council.

He stood down some time after seeing the extension delivered on time and on budget - but has now offered to try and help get the popular gallery's doors open again. Last summer the gallery announced it would close at the end of August for reorganisation - news which sent shockwaves through the art world.

A statement said: "We need to change the relationship of the gallery and its parent, the Tramman Trust, which has been causing investment and financing problems.

"We also need to sort out problems relating to the building itself, which are giving rise to health and safety concerns."

Mr Quayle said the main problem had been that the Charity Commission was querying the gallery's methods of operation and whether the Tramman Trust should be supporting operating losses of its wholly-owned operating company, the Beatrice Royal Gallery Ltd. But he revealed that last month the Charity Commission had given the all-clear and hoped that the trust would consult them if it wanted to start the gallery again.

Mr Quayle said he had been consulting with a number of the current trustees and had submitted a plan to get the gallery open again.

He added: "There are two major things: we need a big lump of money for start-up costs and we also need to find the right person to run the gallery."