The Final Straight - Scottish National Portrait Gallery Finishing Touches

We are on the final straight now. By the time we welcome our first visitors it will have been four full-time years of Portrait of the Nation for me.

Above is the temporary office I share with Willie Dickson and Anne Buddle: The Command Module.

But there can be no flagging, for there is still plenty to be done. The first batch of what will be about 1000 light fittings arrived today – made in Scotland and of pioneering LED (light emitting diode) design. The light quality in the trials looked terrific and the energy consumption will be about one fifth of the tungsten equivalents. Althought it is a measure of how naturally bright the building now is that we have hardly noticed the lack of artificial lighting.

Those pictures that have been hung look revived in their new surroundings.