The V&A at Dundee is one of the most challenging construction jobs taken on by contractor BAM.
Construction director Jim Ward said the building itself will soon be visible from ground level as work on the £80.1 million Kengo Kuma-designed building moves up a gear.
So far only the footprint is visible and only then from a high vantage point.
Mr Ward was speaking in front of 70 guests of the Tayside Construction Forum at a special event at the Malmaison Hotel in Dundee on Wednesday night.
He gave an update on the work carried out so far, as well the challenges posed by realising Mr Kuma’s vision for the waterfront.
Mr Ward said Dundonians will start to see the building taking shape over the next three months as work on the structure itself begins in earnest.
“Every building is unique but we have done technically challenging buildings in the past,” he said.
Mr Ward compared the complexity of the construction work on the concrete structure to the “undulating steel” used at the Museum of Transport in Glasgow.
He said the location of the V&A had presented an added complication as it required the construction of a cofferdam, a temporary, watertight structure necessary to allow major construction work to take place on land normally covered by water.
“The most difficult aspect has been the location, completing the cofferdam to allow them to work on the Tay,” Mr Ward said.
“That was the first critical stage but people will soon start seeing the building coming up over the sides of the bores surrounding the building.”
Mr Ward said the building will rise more slowly than those which are built around a conventional steel structure.
Instead, the V&A uses concrete and special moulds will have to be made to construct the museum’s cladding.
The cost of the museum has soared from an initial budget of £45m to more than £80m, while its completion date has slipped to 2018.
Mr Ward said he is confident that deadline will be met.
He said: “It’s what you start in construction for. There’s always a deadline and a lot to do for every building but it is in our DNA.”
Plans for a new outpost of the V&A were first put forward in 2007 and it is seen as key to the regeneration of the waterfront area and boosting Dundee’s appeal as a tourist destination.
Its impending arrival has already been cited as a reason for a growing number of new businesses opening in the area.