Onwards and upwards, as capital gallery set to expand

The director of the Fruitmarket Gallery, which has been a fixture on its site above Waverley Station since 1974, admits it has now “outgrown” its current home.

And Fiona Bradley said a forthcoming study would look at a possible three-way expansion – above, below and eastwards, into a gap site – to help bring it up to modern-day standards.

She also revealed that redundant garage spaces nearby were being explored to house temporary large-scale exhibitions – but ruled out the Fruitmarket taking an interest in the listed former Canongate school building, which has been given a stay of execution, despite being previously earmarked for demolition as part of the Caltongate development.

The revamp of the Fruitmarket is expected to address long-standing difficulties with installing large-scale works in the building – which was designed by Edinburgh architect Richard Murphy, on Market Street, opposite the City Art Centre complex. New heating and lighting equipment is expected to be installed, while the Fruitmarket’s catering and toilet facilities will be overhauled.

A design competition is set to be held next year if a bid for capital funding from arts agency Creative Scotland is successful. Its chief executive Andrew Dixon has already thrown his weight behind the idea of a revamp, describing the current Fruitmarket building as  “difficult”.

A revamp of the Fruitmarket – which also led the transformation of the Scotsman Steps by artist Martin Creed – would be the biggest project for a contemporary art gallery in the city centre since the relocation of the Ingleby Gallery to Calton Road in 2008.

Ms Bradley, who has been at the helm since 2003, said:  “Richard Murphy’s building, which won several awards, was absolutely fantastic at the time and became a real flagship for the city.

“But the fact is that the programme we want to put on here has now outgrown the building and we have got to the stage where we think we need to look at its various restrictions and limitations.

“At the moment we have just commissioned a feasibility study to look at various options, which is due to report back at the end of the year, but it may be possible to expand down as there is quite a bit of space above platform 21 in the station.

“We don’t know what the height restrictions might be, although the council has built its own headquarters since our current building was completed. There is also a gap site between us and the station that we might be able to expand into.”

A spokeswoman for Creative Scotland said: “The Fruitmarket Gallery has played an important role in contemporary visual arts in the city. We are aware that the gallery is planning for its future development in and look forward to seeing those plans.”