Building work starts on mental health centre

The new building on London Road will have 19 bedrooms surrounding a courtyard

Building work has started on a new mental health unit in Lincolnshire.

A ceremony was held to lay the first bricks of the Norton Lea centre in Boston.

The building will house 19 single bedrooms for adult inpatients, alongside other services, and there will be an outdoor courtyard for patients.

The facility will replace an existing ward in the town's Pilgrim Hospital.

A golden trowel was used to place the first bricks and a time capsule was buried featuring messages from staff and patients.

Kevin Lockyer, who chairs the Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, said: "Everyone involved in this project has worked so hard to get us to this important milestone and I can’t thank them enough.

"Our new state-of-the-art facility will create a therapeutic space for those to whom we provide care.”

Listen to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here.