The first joint SureStart and Neighbourhood Nursery scheme in Britain to offer a one-stop support shop for parents and young children has opened in east Cleveland.
Families can access a 40-place nursery with health and childcare facilities at the Dormanstown SureStart Centre and Buffer Bear Nursery, near Redcar, east Cleveland.
Specialists including health visitors, speech and language therapists, community development workers and a Citizens Advice Bureau worker are also available.
About £430,000 was spent on transforming a derelict NHS health clinic that had become a magnet for vandals after it was damaged by a blaze five years ago.
The centre is regarded as the final part of work that has breathed new life into the surrounding residential areas over the past few years.
Ray Nugent, of Darlington architects Browne Smith Baker, who designed the centre, said: "The building was in a very poor condition, but the project has given the finishing touch to a facelift for the area."
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