Work has commenced on a new community centre in Dalmarnock.

The centre is located adjacent to a Commonwealth Games venue.

The community-owned Dalmarnock Legacy Hub will be a new social recreational and educational centre and will stand beside the Emirates Arena, marking the next stage in the regeneration of the East End of Glasgow as a result of next year's Games.

The facility will house a new all-purpose community hall, a nursery, GP surgery, pharmacy, training and educational facilities, a convenience store and community café.

Construction work will now commence on site and will support more than 60 jobs and four apprenticeships, while 55 new long-term jobs will be created at the Hub.

The Scottish Government has said it will provide a £2.05m investment in the project, alongside £1.23m from Clyde Gateway while Glasgow City Council sold the site, worth £200,000, for a nominal £1 to project managers, the People's Development Trust.

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Commonwealth Games Minister Shona Robison said: "The impact of the Commonwealth Games will reach across Scotland but the epicentre is here, in Glasgow's East End. Alongside the world class sporting facilities of the Emirates Arena, this new building will ensure that legacy is felt in the very communities at the heart of the Commonwealth Games bid, providing new community facilities people of all ages can benefit from.

"The Hub will be central to the community and their drive to improve the East End of Glasgow well beyond 2014. It will create jobs, growth and services to benefit the whole of area and the investment in the Dalmarnock Legacy Hub will be felt for a generation."

Councillor Gordon Matheson, Leader of Glasgow City Council, added: "I am delighted to see the beginning of work on the Dalmarnock Legacy Hub, a building right at the heart of the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games and one that will deliver real benefits to everyone in Dalmarnock after 2014.

"Glasgow City Council has been working with all our project partners to progress this project, one that provides an emblem of the great economic and social benefits that preparing for – and hosting – the Games have brought and will bring to us. I look forward to the Dalmarnock Community Hub being a fantastic community asset for decades to come."

(JP/MH)