Guests had a chance for the first time to take a look around a new £5m facility for adults with learning disabilities.

Greenfield Park on the Noble’s Hospital site is the new home for a range of adult day service facilities that were previously spread over several sites.

Tall Trees resource centre will offer an expanded range of activities and opportunities for service users, replacing Eastcliffe in Douglas which served as a day centre for many years.

Workshops, where clients can develop skills ranging from woodwork to weaving are now housed in the Greenfield Park Industrial Centre, while a garden centre, shop and café, also run as mini enterprises under the Greenfield Park name, are located nearby.

The £5 million development was officially opened on Friday by Minister for Health and Social Care David Ashford.

Work began on the site in October 2017, with facilities and service users transferring to the new complex from their former bases over the last few months. Guests were welcomed by Jonathan Carey, head of adult social care, operations, who thanked the many individuals, organisations and supporters who have helped the project reach completion.

Following this, Mr Ashford gave a short speech before unveiling a wooden plaque at Tall Trees to mark the opening. Visitors were invited to tour the site in groups to see the new facilities up-and-running. The café, garden centre and industrial centre are focused on employment and are run as social firms.

Mr Ashford said: ’I’m genuinely delighted to see this state-of-the-art facility complete and open for business.

’We can all be very proud of what has been created.

’It has been a long road but we have achieved our ambition to bring day services and employment opportunities for some of the most vulnerable members of society together at one location.’

He added: ’The variety and scope of opportunities on offer is creating a real buzz among users, some of whom contributed ideas to the design and have seen them incorporated in our wonderful new facilities.

Several showed such interest in the project they were invited by our contractors Cedar, to lend a hand on site - gaining invaluable experience and building skills to boot.’