Scottish architects will design the £17.6m redevelopment of gallery, which aims to double visitor capacity

Scottish architects Page\Park have been appointed to redevelop Edinburgh’s Scottish National Portrait Gallery for £17.6m.

The new gallery, called Portrait of the Nation, will double visitor capacity and have an education suite, including a community gallery, a seminar room and an art studio. Construction work on the world’s oldest portrait gallery, built in 1889, will commence in 2009 and finish in autumn 2011.

Gardiner and Theobald and Davis Langdon are working on the development as project managers and cost consultants respectively. Will Rudd Associates are covering structural engineering work.

The gallery’s director, James Holloway, commented: “With the whole design team in place we are all looking forward to getting to work in earnest on this amazing project. We plan to use this uniquely resonant Scottish building to bring the story of Scotland – its peoples, histories, places and cultures – to the widest possible audience.”