Edinburgh's National Museum of Scotland is set to create eight new galleries after securing initial support towards a £4.85m grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF).

The grant will be used towards a planned £11.85m transformation and upgrade of the museum's Science and Technology and European Art and Design collections.

The eight new galleries are set to house the museum's entire collection, with 75 per cent of objects going on display for the first time.

Gordon Rintoul, director of National Museums Scotland, said: "This grant will enable us to move forward in opening up access for everybody to our outstanding National Collections of science and European art."

The museum reopened in July 2011 following an initial £47.3m investment in its facilities.

It has already attracted a record-breaking 2 million visitors in the 10 months since its reopening last year - resulting in the museum establishing itself as the most visited attraction outside London in 2011.

Last month, the museum was awarded a RIBA award for the redevelopment.

Earlier this week, HLF announced that it had awarded a total of £15.9m towards development projects at four UK museums.