London’s Whitechapel Gallery has received £3.26m in support from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The funding will go towards the total of almost £10m which is needed for the gallery’s redevelopment project, the remainder of which will be sourced from a combination of an Arts Council England grant and fundraising.

The HLF money will allow the Whitechapel site to double its gallery space and triple capacity for local schools and communities in state of the art spaces, providing public access for the first time to the 100-year-old Whitechapel archive, which documents the history of the gallery and the area.

The plans also include a street level restaurant and an expanded bookshop while access to the entire building for disabled visitors will be dramatically improved.