AN Edinburgh-based firm has been appointed as architects for the new Dalgety Bay community hub.

Lee Boyd Architects will be tasked with drawing up plans for the long awaited hub, marking the first step in the journey to delivering a new facility for the village.

Sharing the news on Facebook, the Dalgety Community Trust wrote: "Dalgety Community Trust is pleased to announce that it has appointed Lee Boyd Architects to lead the work to prepare architectural concepts for a new Community hub in Dalgety Bay.

"Lee Boyd have lots of experience in working with communities across eastern Scotland to design and deliver amazing community buildings and we are thrilled to have them on board. They will be supported by a top team of other companies who will help to prepare and validate the outline design for a new community hub."

The architects have been asked to design a building and associated civic space to replace the existing Fife Council-owned community centre in Dalgety Bay.

The vision is to go well beyond what might be seen as a traditional community centre and deliver a new, 1000 sq m facility arranged over two floors.

The community trust said: "We are aiming to build a a facility that truly meets the needs of the community, is welcoming and inclusive, and provides a wide range of inter-generational facilities and services."

The trust hope to deliver a space that can work as four hubs in one – a social hub, interest hub, services hub and an enterprise hub. They hope to establish the building as a place for the community to connect with one another, a place where people can come together and discuss common interests, access local services and have access to work and meeting spaces.

In the hub they hope to include a community cafe, multi-use rooms of varying sizes, offices and work spaces, IT support facilities, an activity and performing arts hall, the Dalgety Bay Heritage Centre and outdoor spaces.

The community trust continued: "This is the first step on the journey and there is a long way to go. We are realistic that raising funds to build a new community hub is a major challenge.

"However, we have the backing of our community and strong support from Fife Council, who we are very grateful to for providing the grant funding to enable us to appoint architects to prepare initial design concepts."

In February, the Community Trust were granted £30,000 by the Fife Council's South and West Fife Area Committee.

Work has already started with the architects and and it is expected that an initial set of design options will be ready to share with the community at the end of June.

At that point, the community trust will host events to seek views and comments. Then, over the summer, the community feedback will be used to refine the preferred option, with the aim of having the initial design concepts completed by early Autumn.

For updates on the project and details on how you can have your say and get involved in the community hub, follow the Dalgety Community Trust on Facebook.