THE £1.8 million Gro For You Community Innovation Campus in Tain on the NC500 has officially been opened.
Designed to build futures for Easter Ross’ youngsters and the local community, it is hoped that the facility can help stem Highland depopulation.
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. It features transparent sphere structures, called geodomes, that are constructed using recyclable materials – similar to those seen at Cornwall’s Eden Project and Walt Disney World’s Epcot.
Tain-based CR Contractors led groundworks on the project, whilst Dingwall-headquartered Highland Domes created the learning domes. Main construction work was carried out by a consortium of local 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.
Additional revenues generated by luring national and local acts to the domes will be reinvested in apprenticeships and opportunities for Tain’s youngsters.
The new events dome and the completed network of signature domes were opened on the five-acre site by Joanie Whiteford, lord lieutenant of Ross and Cromarty.
Gro For You founder and chief executive, Sarah Mackenzie, called on those in Scotland’s arts, corporate, and family events scene to choose Tain, to help build fresh opportunity in an area traditionally suffering outward youth migration.
She continued, “The events dome is very different from a traditional events or conference venue. Ultimately, we want it to create a circle of impact, bringing performers and events here from all over Scotland while creating opportunities for local artists, suppliers, businesses and young people. Events and hospitality income will be reinvested into creating further opportunities for our community. So, when somebody chooses to hold an event here, they are leaving something behind long after the guests have gone home.
“That is what makes the Dome particularly special – it isn’t just about creating memorable events. It is about using those events to help create lasting impacts.”
Since opening for its soft launch in May, the attraction on the North Coast 500 has attracted 200 customers per day to its café, children’s play areas and training spaces, creating 27 local jobs.
