THE £1.8 million Gro For You Community Innovation Campus is to open in Easter Ross tomorrow (June 5).
Seven years in the making, it has been dubbed as the ‘largest tourism infrastructure of its kind’ in Easter Ross by developers Gro For You. Main construction works were led by a consortium of local building firms, whilst Tain-based CR Contractors led groundworks, and Highland Domes created the facility’s learning domes.
The attraction features learning and events domes, dining areas, an adventure playpark, and campervan, with profits to be re-purposed into creating youth opportunities to stop outward migration from the region.
Cash spent by visitors in the attraction’s café, restaurant, playpark and events dome will be reinvested into apprenticeships to help stem the tide of young people away from the peninsula.
Five full-time senior roles have been created through the campus project to date, with 19 local building jobs sustained during the 15-month construction phase.
Until now, lack of facilities has prevented Tain from capitalising on the thousands of additional visitors the NC500 has brought to the Highlands. However, the new destination, a key stop on the scenic route, includes campervan-friendly parking spaces with welfare and waste facilities, and a tourist information hub.
With cruise ship tourism at nearby Invergordon also bringing extra footfall to Easter Ross, it is hoped the campus will prove a major draw and become a catalyst for wider community regeneration.
Sarah Mackenzie, Gro For You co-founder and CEO, said, “The campus is an opportunity for us to put Tain on the map and be bold about bringing visitors and promoting tourism, here, because we have the infrastructure to support it, now. There is not an attraction of this size anywhere else nearby. When people come off the A9 they want a place to stop, they want good sustainable food, grown locally, they can have a shower which they might not always get in a campervan for example, and there is an adventure playpark where children can have fun and run around while, importantly, being safe.
“Tourist offices have closed down across Scotland but we have one, here. People visiting can buy local gifts or foods, find other places to visit in the area and discover what is going on in our growing domes, herb garden, our orchard, wetland and biodiversity zones. Our aim is to bring people here and keep them in the area.”
Gro For You is a community interest company with a track record in training, meaning the campus will double up as a living learning environment as well as a new visitor hotspot. The restaurant kitchen will provide a training hub for hospitality apprentices while the woodlands and growing domes will feature as learning spaces for rural skills and food technology students.
The campus received nature restoration funding for its on-site wetland, and vegetables grown in the campus raised beds are to be used for soups and salads in the restaurant.
Richard Jones, Gro For You co-founder, added, “When people spend money here, they are not just enjoying a coffee or a meal, they are actually helping to grow opportunities for young people in the area, which has long been a problem.”
Project leaders hope the attraction’s 50-seat Events dome, with panoramic views over the Dornoch Firth, will bring conferences, business events and family celebrations to the site.
Sarah continued, “The base is a perfect stop off point between Inverness and the north. We’re aiming to bring corporate teams here as a venue for leadership and management workshops. The campus basically brings everything together on the one site.”
