The construction of the new Conwy Culture Centre has moved a step closer.

Conwy County Borough Council’s (CCBC) cabinet agreed to award the contract to build the new culture centre on the old Bodlondeb School site.

A report was presented to members confirming the funding package for the project and the details of the tenders to carry out the construction work.

The centre will incorporate a community heritage and arts hub, archive and area library and will aim to improve access to and enjoyment of Conwy’s archive, heritage and library collections for county residents and visitors to the area.

The council’s archive and museum collections comprise of 80,000 catalogued documents and 1,000 objects - which tell the story of the development of the area and its people from prehistory to present.

The collections shed light on every aspect of people’s lives throughout history: their communities, faith, school and education, working lives, culture, holidays and leisure.

The total cost is £3.7m which includes funding from Heritage Lottery Funding, CCBC, Rural Community Development Fund and Gwynt y Môr in partnership with the Conwy Arts Trust.

Awarding the contract to build the new centre marks the final phase of the council’s strategy to modernise libraries. Since implementing the strategy, Conwy Library Service has gone from being amongst the weakest in Wales in 2010/11 to the only service achieving all quality indicators in 2017.

The project has been in the pipeline since January 2016, when Conwy County Borough Council was awarded funding worth £75,000 from Heritage Lottery Funding to begin the development phase of the centre.

The project has been granted planning permission to use the Bodlondeb site for the centre before entering the final phase.