The Guardian is believed to be heading for an annual loss of more than £40m as it spends heavily to expand online in the United States and Australia. At the same time its domestic print newspaper faces the sharp decline in advertising that has hit the newspaper industry in the last year.

Kath Viner was appointed editor of the Guardian in March 2015

While it now sells fewer than 166,000 copies per day, the print newspaper remains the Guardian’s main source of profit.

Plans for the Midland Goods Shed, as what the newspaper described at the time as “an open amphitheatre for festivals, acoustic gigs and debate, as well as including an intimate restaurant with a changing programme of chefs in residence, an armchair cinema, a 3D printing and fabrication lab”, were developed in 2014 as a physical hub for the newspaper’s online membership scheme. It aims to encourage regular readers to pay up to £600 annually, without charging a subscription to read articles.

Alan Rusbridger, the Guardian’s editor at the time, claimed the scheme would produce profits of £10m per year from events and classes. It is understood that only the largest events hosting more than 800 have produced significant returns.

The Midland Goods Shed is planned to have a capacity of less than 800, which a source said had stoked concerns that it could prove to be a financial burden rather than a new source of profits. Although no decision has been taken, handing back the keys could save £6m per year, another source said.

The development is at a crucial stage, with the shell of the building complete and waiting for the Guardian to fit it out and move in.

Guardian Media Group declined to comment.