Plans for the construction of a new centre for research, education and the promotion of low-impact development at the Lammas eco-village in Pembrokeshire have been handed a £350,000 boost.

The new community hub, which will act as the centrepiece of a scheme to build nine eco-smallholdings, is one of 10 projects across the UK to secure funding through the government's Low Carbon Communities Challenge. Work is scheduled to get underway on the hub building in February and is expected to take a year to complete, with locally sourced trees used as part of the construction process. A café and a shop are also proposed.

Lammas project coordinator Paul Wimbush said: "The 'community hub' building will be a launch-pad that will celebrate and promote the new opportunities that are available to create eco-smallholdings in the open countryside. "Opportunities that provide self-build homes, create carbon-positive livelihoods and revitalise our rural economy, all in a way that benefits our natural environment."

Nerys Evans, the Welsh Assembly Government member for Mid and West Wales, added: "We currently face many economic and environmental challenges and the work being carried out by Lammas in tackling these issues at a local level is vital."