Argyll and Bute Council has said good progress is being made on its Helensburgh offices.

The work, which is part of the local authority's Helensburgh Office Rationalisation Project, involves the refurbishment of the Grade B-listed former Clyde Street School in the town.

When completed, the building will provide new community spaces as well as a café, marriage suite, gallery and meeting rooms. There will also be a new extension building alongside which will house around 139 Argyll and Bute Council staff who will move from current offices in and around the town.

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The new extension building will also serve as a central contact centre for local people to access council services, while outside, there will be landscaped grounds open for public use, with an outdoor events and marriage area and community garden.

Work on the £8.3m project commenced in August 2013 and is expected to last for around 18 months, with work being completed by February 2015.

Chair of Argyll and Bute Council's Helensburgh and Lomond Area Committee, Councillor Gary Mulvaney, said: "This multi-millon pound investment will bring real benefits to the people of Helensburgh and Lomond. It will provide a range of indoor and outdoor community spaces for people to use in all sorts of ways and will make it easier for people to make contact with the council and find out about our services.

"The fact that there will be over 150 members of staff based in the heart of the Town can only be good news.

"The historic buildings at the site will have a new lease of life alongside a modern purpose-built facility and the project is yet another sign of the investment that Argyll and Bute Council is making in the area."

(JP/IT)