A £500,000 transformation of Dornoch's redundant police station into a community hub is set to be unveiled this weekend.

Funders of the project will get a chance to see the end result on Friday when representatives of Police Scotland and consultants Impact Hub Inverness will also be in attendance.

Open days for members of the public are being held tomorrow and Sunday from 10am-12noon and 2pm-4pm.

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Dornoch Area Community Interest Company (DACIC) bought the spacious building through an asset transfer and with support from the Scottish Land Fund (SLF).

Further funding for the conversion was sourced from SLF, SSE Renewables, Highlands and Islands Enterprise, the National Lottery - Community Led Initiatives, the Beatrice Partnership, the Town Centre Fund and Highland Council Developers 'Pot 170'.

The ground floor now houses a visitor centre and community room with fully-fitted kitchen, gallery space and a hot desk room for one-to-one training or small meetings. A first floor conference room has a 75" TV screen for projection.

Fourteen businesses now operate out of the hub, a number of whom will take part in the open days.

The old police garages have been converted to a gym, which has been on the community wish list for more than 10 years, and the old kennels are being turned into a Zero Waste Food Larder. And the four-bedroom former police hostel is now home to four seasonal staff from local hotels.

Joan Bishop of DACIC said: "As well as seeing around the buildings, the open days offer the chance to sign up for future activities.The National Lottery - Community Led Initiatives has granted funding for cookery workshops, art and craft activities, youth club and after school coding club.

"Abilitynet, a charity providing one-to-one IT training has offered to deliver sessions in the Hot Desk/IT room. "

DACIC is hopeful of sourcing funding for an electric car to serve as community transport if there is a demand.

Sign-up forms for all activities will be available at the open days.

Ms Bishop continued: "The Dornoch Hub manager Lesley Strang has done a fantastic job in project managing the final snagging stage and getting all areas let - which seemed a very tall order a year ago.

"However, she is now returning to the events world, and we will be looking for a new manager so look out for the vacancy notice if you are interested."

To visit the Dornoch Hub website, click here

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