THE finishing touches are being put to a £900,000 building in Loftus aimed at encouraging education and learning in a deprived area of Teesside.

The Loftus Centre of Opportunity and Partnership is based in the old Co-op building and the stable block behind it.

The last coat of paint has been applied and the last carpet laid in a refurbishment of the building, which is expected to open in the next few weeks.

The project has been launched by the Loftus Development Trust, working in partnership with Redcar and Cleveland College.

The new building will provide access to business advice, management training facilities and a cyber cafe, as well as courses run by the college and opportunities for community learning.

There will also be a creche and the centre is the new home of east Cleveland Sure Start, which aims to provide children in deprived areas with the same chances as other youngsters.

In another move, similar learning facilities will be available in the former Whitecliffe County Primary School building, in Skinningrove.

Funding for the project has come from a variety of sources, including Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, Redcar and Cleveland College, the regional development agency One NorthEast, the Tudor Trust, Tees Valley Training and Enterpise Council, the European Regional Development Fund, the New Opportunities Fund and the Department of Education and Employment.

Steve Mellalieu, of the Loftus Development Trust, said the centre had come about because the college wanted to improve its educational facilities.

At the same time, the trust felt that there were a host of community-based learning opportunities, mainly based on providing free use of computers and access to the Internet, which could be explored.

He said: "I would hope that it helps to draw people back into a learning culture, so they develop and improve themselves and can access better jobs, and that can help low self-esteem.

"In terms of the facilities that are on offer and the quality of those, I am delighted with the building and I think it is a real asset to the town.