The project designed by Richard Murphy Architects aims to deliver ‘a town square for the twenty-first century’, by transforming the Category A-listed Georgian building into a fully accessible and sustainable culture and heritage destination in the heart of Leith.

On the ground floor, community-creative studios will be available for working artists and makers, along with events and conference space available for hire. Commercial and retail opportunities will ensure a sustainable future for the building, with Custom Lane opened up as a thriving eating and drinking destination, linking the Shore with Dock Place and Victoria Quay.

Eight dedicated exhibition rooms on the first floor will house the digital museum, using video walls, listening booths, screens and projectors to display digital content – from historic documents and 3D object scans to photography, oral history archives, film, animation and digital contemporary art – into a limitless range of exhibitions co-curated by community groups, guest curators, specialists and even members of the public.

The plans go on display at Leith Custom House from Friday 23rd August until Friday 6th September during the Open House: Leith Custom House Festival, as part of the city’s Edinburgh 900 celebrations.

Dr Samuel Gallacher, director of Scottish Historic Buildings Trust, said: “Leith Custom House has an important role to play in preserving Leith’s proud civic traditions and is the largest project ever to be undertaken by Scottish Historic Buildings Trust in our forty-year history. We have worked with the community to develop the vision for the future of the building and are delighted to share our next steps for the project publicly through a programme of events aimed at widening participation.

“The digital museum fuses the principles of a civic museum with the innovation of a contemporary digital art gallery. This concept promises a world-leading approach to providing a venue suitable for telling the stories of long ago, empowering people to tell their own stories today, as well as showcasing Leith and Scotland’s outstanding digital creative sector.”

The City of Edinburgh Council appointed SHBT in 2015 to carry out a feasibility study exploring options for creating a sustainable future for Leith Custom House, which had been closed to the public for many years and used as a store by the National Museum of Scotland, gradually falling into disrepair.

Since then, the charity has been working with the community of Leith to develop a shared vision that will secure the long-term future of the building within the heart of the community. During that time, SHBT has transformed Custom House into a vibrant creative hub, providing a temporary home for a wide range of artisans and artists to work collaboratively, as well as providing spaces for community use and a venue for the popular Leith Market.

The newly released proposals build on the preferred option from the feasibility study, which was informed by a formal community consultation exercise which called for spaces for classes, events, and activities, cultural spaces, rentable work studios, and space for permanent and changing exhibitions linked to the history of Leith.

The Gallery of Leith Custom House will be open Tuesday – Saturday, 10am to 4pm until 6th September for people to view the proposals for the building and chat to the SHBT team to find out more.