Plans for a new #12m mental care hospital for the Highlands were unveiled yesterday. Work is expected to start on the 174-bed facility early next year, with an opening in two years. It will replace the Craig Dunain facility, a 134-year-old stone Victorian building, on the outskirts of Inverness.

The new facility will be built under a private finance initiative for the Highland Communities NHS Trust by civil engineers Robertson Group (Scotland) Ltd, of Elgin, Moray. Craig Dunain is to be sold and will be a key centre of the University of the Highlands and Islands.