“When the project was officially launched just over a year ago it was said to be aimed at tackling the “institutional embarrassment” of how work by the likes of Allan Ramsay, Sir Henry Raeburn, Alexander Nasmyth and Phoebe Anna Traquair is displayed. But it emerged in May of that extending the existing 19th century building by around five metres had been ruled out due to the concerns over the cost and complexity of building above railway tunnels.”