THE £1.8m investment in the new Lochore Meadows Country Park Visitor Centre and golf and changing room pavilion is nearing completion.

Work started in February after the demolition of the old park centre building and is being carried out by contractor Hatrick Bruce Limited, from Milnathort

The new Visitor Centre maximises public space which will consist of a café with outdoor decking area, two educational/community rooms with respective retractable walls for flexible use, public toilets with disabled access and baby changing facilities.

There will also be an interpretation area that will display information about the history of the park and interactive displays to help people navigate around the park and get the most from their visit.

The Centre will be named after former Benarty councillor Willie Clarke, who spent 40 years in local government and will be open to the public early in the new year.

The golf and changing room pavilion opened last week.

The chair of Cowdenbeath Area Committee, Councillor Linda Erskine said: "As one of Fife’s major parks, the replacement centre is now very much needed which will compliment other facilities and activities in the park including the existing Outdoor Education Centre

"The park has over 660,000 visitors each year making it Fife’s most popular free visitor attraction and the facility's mountain bike trails were extended earlier this year and have been warmly received by biking communities (the £130,000 project was supported by £69,000 Active Places Legacy Funding from sportscotland).

"As part of the long term development, a further commitment of £750,000 is in the Council’s Capital Investment Plan for Lochore Meadows Country Park to consider future infrastructure opportunities to further enhance the park experience"

A new website for the park was launched earlier this year and can be found at www.lochoremeadows.org

Construction work is also going on nearby to deliver Scotland’s first purpose built closed loop cycle circuit (with an investment of £2.4 million). The outdoor circuit, which will be built on land between Lochgelly High School and Lochore Meadows, will offer cycling opportunities in a traffic free environment to people of all ages and abilities.

The energy efficient new Park Centre will have a special underfloor heating system with the cafe area having a tremendous view of the loch and children's play area.

Park manager Ian Laing was rightly excited by the completion of the new Centre coming ever closer: "The old Centre was very cramped but this is a completely different story with for example the cafe having space for 98 people and it will greatly help us to go and further sell the park to people outwith Fife.

"Last year we had 26 events at the park instead of four the previous year and we will be aiming to have even more next year."

Gavin Turner, of the council's management team on the project, said: "It has a special power source from the loch and the whole idea is to keep the premises cool in summer and warm in winter and all with this new renewable energy supply.

"Also the history of Lochore Meadows will not be forgotten and the history of the area depicted in a mural."

Area committee vice-chair, Councillor Rosemary Liewald, was very pleased with what she saw on Thursday: "The facility has so much space and also the views from the cafe area are superb.

"It is indeed a really excellent facility which will greatly enhance the Meedies."

Former councillor Willie Clarke will formally open the new Centre, named after him, in February and he said: "This is something we have needed for a long time and I hope it is just the start of a new era of Lochore Meadows.

"It is something I have been asking for over a long period of time and hopefully the park will now be able to realise its full potential."

· The council has also invested a further £800,000 into the Rockgelly project in nearby Lochgelly to develop a purpose built climbing centre which is in the early stages of design development

· These developments will complement the other existing facilities in the area including Cowdenbeath Leisure Centre, the Lochgelly Centre & Community Use Schools and enhance the Cowdenbeath area as a dedicated ‘cultural and leisure pursuit’ zone to the wider public and tourist markets