The Museum+of+Scotland'>National Museum of Scotland has said that 10 new galleries are to be opened on 8 July, signalling completion of the latest phase of development in the museum’s £80m (US$114m, €102m) masterplan.

The new spaces will feature more than 3,000 new objects, which will be installed into four galleries covering art, fashion and design, and a further six looking at science and technology.

“These new galleries are part of our masterplan dating back to 2004,” a spokesperson for the National Museum of Scotland told Attractions Management. “We’re opening up the old Victorian parts of the building to get as many objects as we can on display. If everything is completed on time, the museum’s masterplan will be completed by 2018.”

The galleries will open during the 150th anniversary of the Victorian building which houses the museum. First opened in 1866 as the Royal Museum, the building has already undergone a three-year £47m (US$67.2m, €60.3m) restoration and extension led by Gareth Hoskins Architects, which was completed in 2011 with the launch of 16 new galleries. Hoskins are lead architects for the latest phase of development, with exhibition design by London-based designers Metaphor.

The latest £14.1m (US$20m, €18m) Expansion will increase available space by 40 per cent, with more than 75 per cent of objects on display having not been seen “for at least a generation”, according to the museum. Among the project’s supporters are the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the Wellcome Trust and the Scottish government, with a further £7m (US$10m, €9m) having been raised through trusts, foundations and private donors.

In addition to announcing the latest expansion’s opening date, the National Museum of Scotland is also seeking public funding to secure the money needed to realise its masterplan, which will now see the development of two further galleries – one focused on Egypt and another on Asian Art.