‘Field of Dreams’ now underway for Deafblind Scotland
The sod cutting ceremony took place on 17th August for a new, bespoke centre commissioned by leading charity Deafblind Scotland. The centre, located in Lenzie, was designed by Austin-Smith:Lord for Clark Contracts.
The 7,500 square foot building will be a Centre of Excellence for deafblind people with a training and development centre, a daily resource for more than 300 deafblind people in the Glasgow area, and a further resource for the 2,700 people across Scotland who are severely dual sensory impaired.
Called ‘The Field of Dreams’, the £1.5m project will offer deafblind people more opportunities to learn, to enjoy a range of subjects, and to become more familiar with IT and accessing the internet and emails, with the help of specially adapted technology and equipment.
Ruth Dorman, Chief Executive, Deafblind Scotland said “Building our ‘field of dreams’ is the culmination of nearly a decade of fundraising, design debating and all round commitment from the board of trustees, Deafblind members and staff. I am delighted to be working with all concerned to realise this dream.”
Michael Scanlan, Director, Clark Contracts, said: “It is a great honour to be selected to deliver such a vital facility that will help improve the lives of so many deserving people. We were very happy to work with Deafblind Scotland to value engineer the project and to find a way of delivering this important building within the charity’s budget, for a cost that does not compromise on quality.”
Andrew McCafferty, Director of Austin-Smith:Lord said: “We are absolutely delighted to be assisting Clark Contracts and leading the design of Deafblind Scotland’s new Learning & Resource Centre, creating a socially inclusive building within the local community and promoting access for all.”