Construction work on a new Centre for Scottish War Blinded in Paisley is to begin next month.

The centre is the second to be designed by architects at Page\Park following on from the award winning centre at Linburn, West Lothian, completed in 2012.

Beginning on site in mid May, the new centre will include an art, crafts and woodwork studio; rehabilitation and mobility support; an IT suite; specialist tuition; sports, including a fully equipped gym, and a bowling green as well as an independent living skills kitchen, where cookery courses will be run for all abilities.

Fellow charity Royal Blind will be constructing a care home for visually impaired older people on the same site but in a different building, presenting opportunities for shared facilities and connections.

With 54 en-suite bedrooms, the new care home will be bright and airy with open space and access to the outdoors. The lay-out of the building and lighting will be designed to meet the needs of people with visual impairment.

The structure of the building will facilitate independent movement as much as possible by including large bedrooms, internal and external gardens and an upper floor balcony.

Detailing their Centre for Scottish War Blinded designs, Page\Park said: “The building is organised simply in order to provide Scottish War Blinded’s members with a layout that is easy to navigate and remember. The floor plan is organised as two further ‘wings’ between which are the entrance, circulation and dining areas. The ‘wing’ facing Barrhead Road contains a sports hall and gymnasium, above which staff offices are arranged. The sports hall has been designed as a flexible space allowing for use for sports such as acoustic shooting and archery, and has the potential for larger social gatherings.

“The second ‘wing’ of the building includes a number of smaller rooms which include a workshop, art room, living skills kitchen, IT room, therapy room and quiet garden room for the members to relax within. The building reduces in height above this wing to provide a more domestic scale in contrast to the wing facing Barrhead Road. Above the central area between these two wings are located five dramatic rooflights which feather out from the sweeping roof and provide diffuse light and interest to the central space.”

The centre is scheduled to open mid 2017.