North Lanarkshire Council has welcomed the progress being made on the state-of-the-art Newmains and St Brigid's community hub.

Construction work on the building, which will boast two schools, a family learning centre and community facilities is expected to be completed by the end of the year, with pupils and staff moving in early 2023.

Newly appointed council leader Jordan Linden visited the site on Tuesday 24 May 2022 to meet the team behind the project and see first-hand how the building is progressing.

Councillor Linden said: "It's a real privilege to visit the Newmains and St Brigid's community hub today and meet the team who are working to make the project a reality.

"The project brief has involved local people, parents, pupils and staff in both schools and it was great to see the new building coming to fruition before our eyes.

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"The new building will provide fantastic teaching spaces and the new community facilities mean that local people will be very much at the heart of the new building.

"I'm really looking forward to seeing the new building opened and I'm sure it will be enjoyed by generations of local people of all ages for many years to come."

The new building will replace both current primary school buildings, with capacity for 242 pupils in each of the two schools.

The Family Learning Centre will have 88 full time equivalent (FTE) spaces for 3 to 5 year olds and 15 FTE for 2 year olds.

The new hub also features a full-size 3G outdoor football pitch, which can also be adapted to become three seven-a-side cross-court pitches.

Town and community hubs form a key part of North Lanarkshire Council's strategy to combine facilities such as education, health and leisure in one area.

There are three types of hub planned for communities across the area:

• Town hubs are likely to include primary and secondary education and an early years' facility. Other services on offer will be larger in scale, such as more comprehensive sport, culture and leisure facilities and a wider range of council and partner services.

• Community hubs are likely to include at least one learning establishment and may include other zones such as sport and leisure.

• Small community hubs may exist in areas where there is no requirement for new education facilities but where there is a need to replace older facilities like libraries, community centres and health centres.