Hub is dream come true
Community group tours site of £5.7m building due to open in early 2012
“A dream come true” was the verdict of Drumbrae residents following a special preview of the community’s £5.7 million multi-service hub.
The state-of-the-art building will include a library, day centre, meeting rooms and one-stop shop for Council and police services.
The Hub is being handed over to the Council by Morrison Construction and hub South East Scotland in the next few weeks.
The design of the building has been developed following extensive consultation with the community through the Drumbrae Service Users Group.
In September, members of that group were given a tour of the nearly completed building.
For Tom Conway, a member of Drumbrae community council, the hub marks the end of 30 years of campaigning. “It is literally a dream come true to see this building taking shape after all this time,” he said.
“They have taken the views of the users group and managed to translate that into the design and feel of the building.
“It is a tremendous facility which will become a focal point for the whole community.”
The spacious building will house a library, café, local office and meeting rooms on the ground floor, along with the adjoining day care facility.
The mezzanine floor has more books, a computer learning centre and further meeting rooms.
The West Neighbourhood team will be moving into its new home on the top floor in mid-December and will be based there while the interior is fitted out and the building gets ready to open at the end of January.
All of your West Services will be available during this time, so contact us on 0131 529 7440 or westteam@edinburgh.gov.uk
Up to 65 staff from the Council’s West Neighbourhood will be based there along with Police officers from Lothian and Borders Police Safer Neighbourhood team.
The Drumbrae Hub is the first of a series of such facilities to be built across South East Scotland.
The £300-million programme is being led by the Scottish Government’s Scottish Futures Trust and in Edinburgh by the Council, NHS Lothian, Lothian and Borders Police, Lothian and Borders Fire and Rescue Service and the Scottish Ambulance Service.
It is being co-ordinated by the specially created company, hub South East Scotland.