New £1million facilities for year-round visitors are rapidly taking shape at a leading north-east snow sport centre.

The major redevelopment at the Lecht Ski Centre, which was awarded  £336,000 financial assistance from Moray Badenoch and Strathspey Enterprise (MBSE), involves construction of a new central building to accommodate visitor facilities for winter and summer activities.

Built from stone, steel and glass, it will replace old wooden buildings that currently house the café, ski hire, ticket sales and other offices. The new building, costing a total of £1,040,000, will also feature race training and staff areas.

James McIntosh, operations director at the Lecht Ski Centre, said: "The development will provide greater safety and comfort for customers, create a building that is far more aesthetically and environmentally compatible with the surrounding area and will allow significant market development opportunities.

"The upgraded facilities will provide shelter and safety indoors for peak-time queues for winter snow sport hire and tickets, increase the capacity and quality of catering provision, improve customer throughput and logistics and provide specialist facilities for racers and officials for local and national requirements. Cafe seating will be increase to 172 from 150 and a new self-service system will be installed to improve speed of delivery and menu choice.

"The company is very grateful to MBSE for the help we have received. This project would not have been able to go ahead without their assistance."

James Gibbs, head of operations at MBSE said: "Often the Lecht is the only snow sport facility open in Scotland at certain times of the year and this new improved central building will allow it the capability to operate a state of the art facilities and offer more visitors a range of improved activities."

Set in the Eastern Cairngorms, the Lecht Ski Centre is based at the summit of the Lecht Pass, between Tomintoul and Donside, 2090ft above sea level. The site, on the boundary of Aberdeenshire and Moray, is leased from the Crown Estate and Allargue Estate.

Compared with other Scottish ski centres, the centre is compact and low lying with runs to a maximum vertical drop of 230 metres. Its biggest advantage over its competitors is that the main ski area is sheltered from prevailing westerly winds, often enabling it to operate while others are closed by high winds.

Since the Lecht Ski Company Ltd was incorporated in 1977, it has made significant investments to improve the facilities it offers, including the introduction of snow-making machinery to fill-up or create complete runs in the absence of natural snow. To counteract their reliance on the winter season, the company has also invested substantially in summer-based activities, with attractions including quad bikes, downhill karts and downhill tube runs.

The company directly employs over 55 people during peak winter season, made up of 12 full-time permanent staff, 20 seasonal full-time employees and further part-time staff employed on weekends and holiday periods.

The new project will help create a further 3.5 full-time equivalent jobs.