The Highland Hospice is nearly halfway to raising more than £6million to build new facilities to care for people with terminal illnesses.
An application for £200,000 worth of funding from Highland Council was unanimously approved yesterday.
Members of the resources committee agreed without debate to agree the funding for the charity.
The council’s money will go towards a “sanctuary” at the building, which will provide a spiritual space for people of “all faiths and none”.
It means that the hospice has now raised £2.7million of their £6.5million target.
The project will involve the demolition of one of the buildings at their Bishop’s Road site.
A new larger facility will be built in its place.
The hospice will move to Invergordon for a year while the construction takes place.
The unit is more than 25 years old and is smaller than suggested by current healthcare guidelines.
It has just four single and two shared rooms and there is a lack of space for families and bereavement support services.
The new building will be double the existing unit’s size and provide nine single en-suite bedrooms, as well as one larger shared room.
There will also be more space for family accommodation and three dedicated counselling rooms, plus the scope needed to develop an innovative virtual hospice.
The charity is committing £2million from its own reserves and it is hoped to start building in spring next year.
Andrew Leaver, head of fundraising at the hospice, said: “We would like to thanks the councillors and council officials for this tremendous contribution towards rebuilding the in-patient unit at Highland Hospice. With council support our project build appeal has now reached £2.7m.
“Funding from the council, charitable trusts and local companies such as the Orion Group, Technip and the Kingsmills Hotel make a huge impact on the appeal target and are essential for us, but we are also hugely grateful to everybody across the Highlands who has contributed to the appeal, whilst also ensuring we raise enough funds to keep our everyday services going.”