A £5million housing complex for adults with learning disabilities opened its doors in Aberdeenshire for the first time yesterday.
The brand new Inverurie development provides 24 self-contained apartments for its residents, many of whom have never had the freedom of their own personal living space before.
As well as round the clock support staff, the new facility will also provide those staying there with communal gardens and other shared facilities, as well as programmes to integrate them with the wider community.
Named St James’s Court by pupils from the nearby Kellands Primary School, the ambitious Aberdeenshire Council project was carried out by contractors Bancon Construction.
The north-east based disability charity Inspire will also provide additional care workers to supplement council staff.
Karen Arthur, the chief executive of Inspire, said: “We’ve been involved right from the beginning, from the conceptual idea all the way through the development plans, the construction, and the integration of the people that we support into the building.
“It’s going to give the residents, for the first time ever, their own front door and their own accomodation.
“It’ll be a huge change for them, they will be used to group living but now they will be able to make their own choices, choices that we all take for granted, be it choosing what they want to watch on television, or what they want to make for tea.”
The Scottish Government also supported the creation of the St James’s Court by providing £1 million to help cover the project’s £5 million total cost.
Aberdeenshire Provist Hamish Vernal cut the ribbon to the new centre yesterday morning.
Mr Vernal said: “I was delighted to be asked to open this brand new housing complex in Inverurie.
“This is an absolutely wonderful success story for Aberdeenshire Council, the private sector construction company Bancon Developments and Inspire, and one of the most important third sector organisations in the north-east of Scotland.
“The people who live here will have access to innovative, top of the range facilities, and this centre will be of a huge benefit to the surrounding community here in Inverurie.”