Plans to expand restoration works at a Dundee museum have received preliminary backing from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the BBC has said.

The Verdant Works museum is dedicated to highlighting the city's jute industry.

The Dundee Heritage Trust is hoping to secure £1.48m to help complete the restoration of the Category A listed building. If successful, the £2.2m project would see the site's High Mill and Glazed Alley preserved.

Now, development funding of £114k has been awarded to the Trust to help with their funding bid.

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Currently, only half of the historic site has been restored.

The High Mill Open Gallery Project would see essential works carried out to preserve the High Mill and the adjoining Glazed Alley – both are currently derelict and as a result, on the Buildings at Risk Register.

Once the work is completed, the heritage trust hopes to create a new 971 square metre exhibition space, allowing the museum to display some of the large industrial objects in its reserve collections for the first time.

Dundee Heritage Trust now has up to two years to submit their fully-developed proposals and compete for the full amount needed for the project.

Gill Poulter, Heritage Director for the Trust, said: "We're delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund has given us this significant level of support which is fantastic news for the trust and the city.

"The project gives us the opportunity to create something new and different that will have a dynamic future of its own but which is complementary to the existing jute museum, helping to protect and enhance it."

(JP/CD)