A new community sports hub has been unveiled at Calderglen High School, East Kilbride, as part of wider efforts to create a lasting legacy from the 2014 Commonwealth Games.

Forming a central part of the 2014 Legacy Plan, the hub is one of eight initial facilities to be created across Scotland and is designed to boost the number of opportunities for people looking to participate in sports. Each of the proposed hubs aims to focus on local community needs and will provide clubs and sports groups with improved access to facilities. The sites will also use volunteers to help promote the development of physical activity.

Based at sports centre and schools, the hubs will be backed with an annual budget of £1.5m National Lottery funding allocated by sportscotland for the next four years. Facilities at Calderglen High School include two grass pitches, a floodlit 3G pitch, a dance studio, a games hall and three gym halls. A total of five clubs and groups have signed up, with a further six expressing intrest.

Scottish public health and sport minister Shona Robison said: "The hub at Caldergen is an excellent example of providing the local community with a place to come together, get active and have fun. "We are going to be introducing Community Sports Hubs across Scotland as part of our Games Legacy Plan for Scotland, this will ensure we are making the best use of our facilities and give local communities more opportunities to participate in sport."

sportscotland is currently working with eight local authority partners on the delivery of the new hubs, including South Lanarkshire, Edinburgh, Perth and Kinross, East Lothian, Orkney, North Lanarkshire, Glasgow and Highland. The initial eight hubs are scheduled to open by spring 2011.

Image: (from left) sportscotland chair Louise Martin; sportscotland chief executive Stewart Harris; and Shona Robison MSP – Steve Lindridge, Ideal Images