The existing building on Crosshill Place in Port Glasgow will be demolished while the new children’s house will be built on the existing site.

The new house is similar in design to the children’s house in Kylemore Terrace in Greenock which was completed in 2013.

It will have six bedrooms – all with ensuite facilities – along with a lounge, sitting room, dining room, kitchen and laundry.

Health & social care convener, Councillor Robert Moran, said: “The children who will live in the new children’s house are ordinary children from Inverclyde who attend local schools and who have come to be looked after by the council usually because of adverse circumstances in their family.

“These children will almost always have experienced and coped with a great deal of adversity in their young lives, and as a council we want to provide for them the nurturing and caring childhood as any good parent would want for their child.”

A third children’s house is currently being built in Cardross Crescent in Greenock to replace the existing children’s house in Neil Street. The £1.9m building is due to be completed later this year.

Residents at the existing Crosshill Place unit will move into Neil Street until building work is completed towards the end of 2018.

Councillor Moran added: “The high quality of our residential childcare services has already been recognised by the Care Inspectorate and I am delighted we have been able to match those high standards with such significant investment.

“The new children’s houses when completed will deliver the best possible facilities for children and young people in a nurturing and caring environment.”