The National Gallery in London, has unveiled plans for the first phase of a multi-million pound renovation programme.

The £21m East Wing Project is the first in a series of developments planned for the gallery to improve visitor facilities. Originally built in 1838 after a design by William Wilkins, the building has become cluttered and congested and struggles to hold the more than four million visitors it receives each year.

The project will take advantage of the pedestrianisation of the north side of Trafalgar Square as well as the extra space created by relocation of staff from the ground floor of the main building to nearby offices.

Concentrating on the ground floor of the east of the building, the East Wing Project will include the creation of a new public entrance which will provide access at street level to the main building for the first time. There will also be a platform lift for visitors in wheelchairs.

The new East Door will lead to an expanded and refurbished 300-seat café, and a visitor shop designed by Din Associates. Ahead, a double-height, naturally lit atrium from which visitors will be able to reach the main floor of the gallery by a new staircase or lift, has been created from a previously hidden courtyard in the heart of the building.

An informal space, the Lower Hall, will be created on ground level below the Central Hall and accessed from the atrium. The space has been designed for visitors to meet friends, drink coffee and access interactive information about the gallery's collections on touch-screen computers.

The main portico entrance will be opened up to create more space and improved reception facilities and the historic Victorian staircase hall will be restored with its original decorative scheme recreated. Dixon.Jones, the award-winning architects whose previous projects include the Royal Opera House and National Portrait Gallery, are designing the project.

The East Wing Project is being funded by a £10m donation from Mark Getty and the Ann and Gordon Foundation in honour of Sir Paul Getty. A further £2m has been raised from private and charitable sources. The remainder of the gallery's redevelopment depends on obtaining planning permission and raising further funds. Work on the East Wing Project is due to start in spring 2003, with completion scheduled for 2005.