A building partially collapsed on the construction site of a major new shopping centre in Edinburgh.

Demolition work recently started on the £850m St James Centre redevelopment at the east end of the city centre.

During a planned demolition of a multi-storey car park at the back of the 1970s complex, two floors of two structural bays collapsed.

No one was injured in the incident, which took place on Tuesday.

A Laing O'Rourke spokesman said the floors had collapsed into the "demolition exclusion zone".

He said: "The exclusion zone is an area where personnel are not permitted and specialist machines work from the perimeter on the demolition of the building.

"The exclusion zone is further protected by a safety zone where only trained personnel are permitted.

"These measures are put in place to keep members of the public and site personnel safe at all times and allow for the unpredictable nature of demolishing buildings of this age and condition."

The £850m St James redevelopment will involve the current centre being demolished and a new complex built in its place, with a five-star hotel at its heart.

It will house 750,000sq ft of retail space, 30 restaurants and a multi-screen cinema.

Work on the project, which will also retain the existing John Lewis store, is due to be completed by 2020.

The St James Quarter development has come under scrutiny from heritage experts amid ongoing debates about the capital's world heritage status.