WORK on the construction of the new Kelty Community Centre building will begin in March, it was revealed this week.

The historic church building, which has housed the village’s current community centre, will come down starting within the next week and it is planned that the site will be cleared by early in December.

That will then allow the base to be laid for the new building and if the winter weather is reasonable at all, construction of the new £4m facility will begin early in March.

And it was emphasised this week that while the demolition of the former church building, in Main Street, will involve a lot of heavy equipment working near the large primary school only a few yards away, a special traffic management scheme will be put in place to make sure that there is no danger posed to children attending the facility.

Cowdenbeath MSP, Alex Rowley, has been following the development of the new Kelty Community Centre since his days as leader of Fife Council and he visited the Main Street location to meet with the site manager to find out how things are developing.

He said on Tuesday, “Phase One of the project began in the summer when two new classrooms were created at the primary school and other work was done to prepare the school to be part of the community centre, and Phase Two will start within a matter of days and see the church demolished and the site cleared.

“The church has served the the people of Kelty well in many ways over the decades, not least as the village community centre for almost 30 years, but it is a brand new purpose built facility that Fife Council is building here and although it is part of the history of the village, it was time for it to go.

“Once the site is cleared the groundworks will be layed over the winter months and the construction of the new building should be underway by March.” A key part of the new community facility, the 3G football pitch at the home of Kelty Hearts, will be laid in the summer so 2015 will be a big year for the community.

“This is a very exciting time for the Kelty community and I am looking forward to seeing how the new building develops,” Mr Rowley added.

Our pictures show artist’s impressions of the new Centre.