National Galleries warns flagship attractions face closure over 'seismic' £40m funding crisis

The National Galleries of Scotland has warned it could have to start shuttering its flagship attractions in Edinburgh to cut costs amid an escalating financial crisis.

Bosses have told MSPs that at least £40 million is needed to address the declining condition of its buildings.

The National Galleries of Scotland attracts more than 2.4 million to its sites in Edinburgh. | Neil Hanna

The organisation, which runs four major attractions in Edinburgh - the National, Portrait and Modern One and Two - has warned the Scottish Government's annual funding contribution, which is expected to top £20m in the coming financial year, falls well short of what is needed to manage and run its major galleries and storage facilities.

The organisation, which is responsible for more than 130,000 works of art and attracted more than 2.4m visitors to its sites during 2023, has suggested "seismic changes" may need to be made to safeguard the future of what it describes as "some of Scotland’s greatest cultural assets".

National Galleries of Scotland's Modern Two gallery was temporarily closed from autumn 2022 to spring 2023 as a cost-cutting measure, largely due to spiralling energy bills.

Work by the celebrated Scottish artist Eduardo Paolozzi was celebrated by the National Galleries of Scotland last year. Picture: Neil Hanna

Urgent investment is said to be needed to reduce the risk of paintings and other important works of art being damaged due to electrical failures or leaking roofs.

The National Galleries has raised health and safety concerns over the growing risk of its staff being injured if it cannot maintain "critical systems that are close to obsolete".

The National Galleries has also revealed it has been unable to secure financial support from the Government to start work on a long-awaited new collection centre and visitor attraction on Edinburgh's waterfront.

Photographer Robert Wilson's image of Doctor Who star Ncuti Gatwa is now in the permanent collection of the National Galleries of Scotland. Picture: Neil Hanna

It has told MSPs the project, which will bring 97 of its collections under the one roof, is a “key mitigation action” to tackle most of its key risks.

Director-general Anne Lyden told The Scotsman the National Galleries was being left with no option, but to face the "unacceptable possibility" of shuttering its buildings and reducing access to Scotland's national art collection.

The National Gallery is one of Edinburgh’s most popular visitor attractions. Picture: Lisa Ferguson

And she has suggested the National Galleries will be “stuck in survival mode” without urgent new investment from the Scottish Government.

The National Galleries has raised the alarm over its future weeks after the Government announced a £34m increase in support for the culture sector in the Scottish Budget. Revenue funding for the National Galleries is expected to increase by nine per cent in the next financial year, to £21m.

However, a report for Holyrood's culture committee states the National Galleries needs to secure an additional £17.5m to secure the future of its most “high risk” works of art, a further £22.5m to tackle a historic backlog of repair and maintenance work and an additional £5m a year in the long term to pay for regular maintenance.

Its dossier states: "We are committed to providing the widest possible access to the national art collection, but this requires adequate funding. While a 9 per cent revenue grant-in-aid increase may seem positive, the reality is that it is not enough.

"The increase will be almost entirely absorbed by our staffing costs, after the impact of the shorter working week, public sector pay policy and employer National Insurance contribution increases have been taken into consideration. The Budget settlement leaves us in a forecast deficit position and it will be increasingly challenging to reach a balanced budget.

“For 2025/26, 93 per cent of our grant in aid and 72 per cent of our total income is forecast to go on salary costs. The Government’s commitment to no compulsory redundancies means we are caught in what can only be described as a ‘staffing cost trap’, where escalating expenses threaten the sustainability of our operations.

"The remaining 7 per cent of grant-in-aid does not cover the cost of managing and running our estate and is particularly challenging with increasing costs required for the maintenance of our historic galleries, creating a risk to our building fabric and infrastructure.”

Its report for MSPs adds: “We have been carrying out a full analysis of our estate with a range of detailed condition surveys and produced a detailed risk report for the Scottish Government.

“The level of risk and potential for a catastrophic incident at one of our buildings is at a critical level never before seen, with the likelihood of such an event increasing with each budget cycle.

“We realise that there will always be some level of backlog maintenance that can be tolerable, but we are currently operating within an extreme high-risk environment that requires £5m per year to look after our estates.

“We cannot sustain our current level of activity within the financial and estates/estates capital context in which we are working. If there is no significant change in the near future, we will be forced to make seismic changes, such as closing one of our buildings.”

Ms Lyden told The Scotsman: “Our galleries, which house some of Scotland's greatest cultural assets, are operating under increasing strain and we urgently need investment to address critical maintenance and repair.

"Delays to this put Scotland’s national art collection at increased risk of damage due to hazards such as electrical failure, failure to sufficiently maintain our external structures such as roofing, or health and safety risk if we are unable to maintain aging critical systems that are close to obsolete.

"Without the required funding, we face the unacceptable possibility of shuttered galleries and the loss of public access to Scotland’s national collection. Closing one of our galleries is a last resort. However, the challenges we face may mean it is the only option.

“Despite our best efforts to innovate and generate income, underfunding across the sector is pushing institutions like ours to the brink, forcing us to focus on survival rather than growth.

"Without bold investment now, we will remain stuck in survival mode, unable to secure the vibrant cultural future Scotland deserves.”

The National Galleries has spent more than eight years pursuing plans for The Art Works - a new collection centre expected to be a centrepiece of a culture quarter planned for a gap site in the Granton area.

Although planning permission was secured from the city council in October 2023, the project is yet to get off the ground. The National Galleries has told MSPs: “Our plan is to build a new world-class, innovative storage and research facility.

“The Art Works is a sector-leading project, one that challenges the notion of conventional storage and activates 97 per cent of the collection which is currently in store.

“The Art Works will enable us to not only care for, understand, conserve and protect Scotland’s art collection, but to share it with the world, now and in the future.

“The completion of The Art Works is a key mitigating action to most of the key risks that NGS faces. We welcome continued funding from the Scottish Government and will work with them to confirm the timeline for funding to be released for construction as we face risk of increased costs as a result of any delay.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said: “As part of a record £34 million uplift for culture in the draft 2025-26 Budget, the National Galleries of Scotland received a nine increase to their overall budget.

“Ministers await the outcome of the UK Government’s ten-year national infrastructure strategy and multi-year spending review in the spring to get a clearer picture of the longer-term capital position available to the Scottish Government.

“This year’s Budget includes funding to continue to progress The Art Works facility. Work is ongoing between the Scottish Government, the National Galleries and the wider sector to ensure Scottish Government investment in national storage solutions is consistent with public sector reform aims.”