THE £1.8 million Gro For You Community Innovation Campus is nearing a May opening, those behind the project have said.
Set off the NC500 route and neighbouring the Glenmorangie Distillery, the campus will provide learning and training opportunities in areas such as food production, hospitality and green business skills, as well as being a visitor centre with a café, farm shop, play area and gardens.
The plans include distinctive transparent sphere structures, called geodomes, constructed using recyclable materials – similar to those seen at Cornwall’s Eden Project and Walt Disney World’s Epcot.
Tain-based CR Contractors is leading groundworks on the project, whilst Dingwall-headquartered Highland Domes is creating the facility’s learning domes. Main construction work are being carried out by a consortium of local building companies.
Over 30 local residents helped out at two recent events on the site of the campus by painting, upcycling, planting trees, developing wetlands, and erecting planters and fencing.
Now project leaders have revealed they are working towards an outline target of May for a ‘soft opening’ which could see the first commercial activity at the campus ahead of a full summer unveiling.
Described by local MSP Maree Todd as ‘game-changing’, the multi-purpose campus will be the first of its kind – providing high quality facilities for NC500 visitors and locals whilst helping rejuvenate Tain and the wider Easter Ross peninsula.
As well as being places for wellbeing and events, the campus’ GEO domes and kitchens will double up as living learning environments where local apprentices will learn skills to meet shortages in local industries such as hospitality and renewables.
From the outset, community company Gro For You has been indebted to the people of Tain and local businesses in helping the project to move forward, from consultation stage to delivery, it said.
Gro For You CEO, Sarah Mackenzie, said, “The recent community days have been great. I think people were seeing the building going up and they wanted to do something to get their hands dirty and be a part of it.
“Too many projects consult the community at the start and at the end and there is this feeling that something is being done to them rather than with them.
“We didn’t want that. At the last event we had people saying it was good to get out, meet and speak to people. Having those conversations is all part of what the Campus is about as a community hub.
“When we open we will want and need ideas and feedback from the community because the more viable this is, the bigger the community benefit, in terms of the young people and all the other local businesses deriving trade from having more footfall.
“We want this project to be here long-term and it’s nice to think the trees the community planted in the orchard last week might, one day, be seen by their grandkids and their kids after them.”
The campus Café and kitchens are now virtually complete on the site with windows being added to two of the campus’ Event and Growing domes last week. Having the site open in May still depends on certain factors such as energy infrastructure coming together but progress is expected to gather pace in the coming days, Gro for you added.
When open, wellbeing activities and events will run year-round, with spaces for private functions and weddings. The secure children’s adventure playpark with go-karts, barrel trains, jumping pillow and sensory play areas will be operational, with indoor and outdoor dining and ‘grab and go’ food.
A Visitor Centre with tourism information, gift shop and larder will be housed on-site, with parking, EV charging and welfare facilities such as bathrooms and showers for motorhome users.
“May is the target opening we are working towards so let’s hope for good weather and some of the final stumbling blocks to be cleared,” added Gro For You Co-Founder, Richard Jones.
