A £3m facelift is set to start on Kirkcaldy Town House, the Courier newspaper has reported.

The Scandinavian-influenced 1930s building will benefit from a major interior modernisation and refurbishment project including a new local office, and will become the council hub for Kirkcaldy, with most services under one roof.

It’s part of Fife Council’s five-year 'Spend to Save' programme, which will see a number of smaller offices closed and sold off, with staff moving to the one location.

This is expected to raise more than £12m.

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The grade B-listed town house building is closed for business throughout the work, and will re-open in autumn 2013.

Kirkcaldy area committee chairman Neil Crooks said: ''The town house refurbishment is part of an ongoing programme within Fife Council to reduce our carbon footprint, reduce energy costs and reduce revenue expenditure on buildings maintenance, concentrating staff into fewer buildings as a cost and efficiency measure.

''When the council embarked on this massive programme across the region, it was in pursuit of a significant budget saving and it is far better to reduce buildings than reduce staffing, which is the council's other major revenue cost.''

Work started on the current town house in 1937, from a competition-winning design by architects David Carr and William Howard, of Edinburgh.

Construction was interrupted by the outbreak of WWII when just the foundations had been put in place.

Work resumed in 1950 and was completed by 1956.

(NE)