The £14.5million project to build the new Johnstone Town Hall is also creating employment and training opportunities for young people from Renfrewshire and beyond.
Work on the new town hall started in October 2013 and is due to continue until the building opens next summer.
So far, the project’s community benefits programme has seen 14 people receive employment opportunities, including jobs, apprenticeships, graduate positions and work placements with contractors involved in the development.
The programme is being delivered by Hub West Scotland, which helps manage the contract for the Renfrewshire Council-led project.
Once complete, the new Johnstone Town Hall will include a library, 300-seat theatre, marriage suite, conference space, cafe and meeting rooms.
It will also house offices for Renfrewshire Council’s housing and social work departments, Police Scotland and Macmillan Cancer Support.
Renfrewshire Council Leader Mark Macmillan visited the site to see progress on construction and met three Renfrewshire residents who had been taken on to work on the project – Martin Wylie, Dominic Pacitti and Josh Meechan.
He said: “Once complete, the new Johnstone Town Hall will be a fantastic hub for the town and surrounding villages.
“Since the turn of the year, residents have been watching the building rise from the ground and what they can see now is a very striking-looking structure.
“It was great to visit the site and meet the workers as this project takes in two of the biggest priorities of this council – regeneration and jobs.
“The council is tackling unemployment by helping organisations create job opportunities for residents, and our Invest in Renfrewshire programme has already produced impressive results on this count.
“Plus, the work on the new Johnstone Town Hall is just one of several major town centre regeneration projects happening across Renfrewshire just now.
“We also have a new town hall in Linwood, new flats on the Arnotts site in Paisley, and the plans are moving forward for the restoration of the Russell Institute.”
Josh Meechan, 25, from Paisley, who was hired as an assistant quantity surveyor by BAM, added: “I saw the job advertised through university email and started in January.
“It’s been really good – and has dramatically impacted on my life. Going from a small company to a massive one like this has opened up lots of new avenues for me.”
Around 13 per cent of work packages on the project, totalling around £1million, have been awarded to Renfrewshire businesses.
The community benefits programme has also included activity days in local schools and sponsorship of Johnstone Burgh FC.
We apologise that the original photos for this archive article are no longer available. The images were hosted on an older version of the Renfrewshire24 website and were lost when the site suffered a major crash in 2020.