THE regeneration of Hermitage Park in Helensburgh is now expected to be complete in August of this year – two months later than originally planned.

The £3.3 million project was due to be finished in June, but Fiona Baker, the chair of the Friends of Hermitage Park, said the delay was down to a hold-up in the start of work on the park’s new pavilion.

Work on the pavilion building was due to get under way in June but only started just before Christmas due to changes in the design of the structure which held up the award of the contract.

The main park works are being carried out by principal contractor Hawthorn Heights, but construction work on the pavilion is being undertaken, under a separate contract, by Helensburgh firm Stewart & Shields.

Ms Baker said: “The original proposal was too expensive and so the whole design has changed – but it’s changed for the better.

“It’s now a Passivhaus design, which is regarded as the ‘gold standard’ for energy efficiency. We think the pavilion will be the first non-domestiv Passivhaus building in Scotland.”

The Friends have also unveiled their hopes for the former Argyll and Bute Council depot site to the north of the park. More on that story elsewhere on this site and in the next issue of the Advertiser – on sale from Thursday, January 18.