THE £80 million V&A building in Dundee can attract half a million visitors in 2018 and one third of a million visitors a year after that, its director believes.

Philip Long, V&A Dundee’s director, which he said is “on programme and on budget”, said the business plan for the new museum of design on the banks of the Tay is robust.

Construction of the Kengo Kuma-designed museum is continuing apace, and the first of its more than 2,000 cast-stone panels have been affixed to its curving walls.

The building, which currently resembles two huge black ships that have come ashore, will be ready by the end of this year, Mr Long said.

On the expectations for the museum’s success, Mr Long said: “It’s hard to predict but we need to make a prediction to help our planning.

“We have seen with buildings around the world that they can exceed significantly what is predicted, and we think it’s reasonable here that in the first year it will be visited by half a million people.

“We would expect that to settle down to around 350,000 a year, depending on the programme.”

The museum is examining one-off events and the rotation of museum exhibits to encourage repeat visits.

“We have a done a lot of work recently on research into audience awareness, and awareness is growing significantly across the country,” Mr Long added.

“What we see is that it is capturing the imagination. And it is unusual: it is the first V&A in the world outside London, in a building that will be magical, and so people are excited.”

If the V&A Dundee attracts 500,000 visitors in its first year, that total would put it in the top 70 attractions in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Association of Leading Visitor Attractions.

It would be above Stirling Castle on the list of the UK’s most popular attractions. If it rose above 500,000 it could challenge Edinburgh Zoo, which registered 574,175 visitors. If the museum averages 350,000 visitors a year after that, it would vault above the Scottish National Portrait Gallery in Edinburgh, which attracted 322, 219 visitors last year, and Glasgow Cathedral, with 296,062.

“The business plan, we need to keep under review, and we are always doing that and working on that,” he added.

“As we open, and in the early years, we will need to review what our business planning is.

“It is a fiercely hard to predict the popularity of anything, so we are always looking at that, and especially as the exhibition element comes into place, because the exhibitions will be charging [for entry].”

The permanent exhibition of Scottish design will be free to enter and main activities will be without charge.

Although the V&A in Dundee has been established with the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, it is run independently and, as well as bringing V&A shows to Scotland, it will develop its own.

Staff from V&A Dundee are working with V&A staff in London and the expectation is that some of that museum’s large shows will come to Scotland.

The permanent collection of Scottish design, Mr Long said, will contain 250 objects from the V&A in London, taken from 12,000 objects of Scottish interest.

Some of the items include pattern books from 18th-century Paisley, while the oldest item will be a Book of Hours from the 15th century, depicting Scottish saints.

The most modern items in the displays are still being discussed but it is likely to acknowledge the digital age.

The largest item will be Charles Rennie Mackintosh’s Oak Room, which .It was the largest interior designed for Miss Cranston’s Ingram Street Tearooms in Glasgow, which has not been on display for 50 years.

It is currently being renovated and will be on show at the V&A in a deal with Glasgow Life.

A total of 600 pieces of the interior were salvaged by Glasgow City Council when the city tearoom was redeveloped as a hotel in the 1970s.