October 25 2005

The Scottish Executive wants to turn a 15,000sq m factory in Leith, the VA Tech factory, which is owned by Siemens, into a cultural centre. The new centre would house Anthony d’Offay’s collection of modern art, which the Executive has begun negotiations to purchase. It would also house the Scottish National Photography Centre, the archive that contains private letters, manuscripts and other correspondence from Jane Austen, Lord Byron and Sir Walter Scott that belonged to the Scottish publisher, John Murray. In addition, the building would also rehouse the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historic Monuments for Scotland (RCAHMS).

Last year the RCAHMS was granted £12 million to find further storage facilities for its burgeoning archives. “We are currently undertaking an options appraisal – the VA Tech building is just one of several places we are looking at,” says Diana Murray, director of RCAHMS. The Scottish National Photography Centre has been developed with the Royal High School on Carlton Hill as its setting of choice. Whether the National Galleries of Scotland wish to see the d’Offay collection should it come to Scotland move to Leith rather than the Dean, is unclear. The National Galleries were unavailable for comment.

The news that Leith is to be the destination of such a diverse artistic hub takes place against a backdrop of growing concerns about the master plan for the area. Speaking at a recent event organised by Edinburgh Design Initiative, Riccardo Marini, the city’s design adviser, said that he believed that Granton and Leith had been “master planned to death” while others within the council felt that a new plan for the whole of Edinburgh’s waterfront was required. Planning gain from new developments could be used to fund the purchase and conversion of the VA Tech factory but the project would also require significant subsidy by the Scottish Executive

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