THE latest chapter in the growth of Skye's Gaelic college, Sabhal Mor Ostaig, will unfold tomorrow with the launch of its GBP7.1m centre for creative and cultural industries.

The centre will provide a "state-of-the-art new media environment", including a full broadcast-standard digital television recording studio, soundrecording studio, theatre and post-production facilities, a centre for visual arts and research, office space, incubation units and even a creche.

But a little more than 30 years ago Sabhal Mor Ostaig was just what its Gaelic name says - the big barn of Ostaig, a farm steading in the MacDonald of Sleat country on Skye.

It was to grow into a GBP10m campus, internationally recognised as a centre of academic excellence and one of the main drivers of Skye's economy.

Professor Norman Gillies, college director, said the new centre represented the next important stage in the development of Sabhal Mor, enhancing its role as a national centre of excellence for the preservation, enhancement and development of the Gaelic language and culture.

He said: "The whole future economic wellbeing of the Gaelic community is essentially linked to the future health of the language and while education is central to this, there is a need for greater synergy across sectors, to ensure a holistic approach."

He said the centre would be completed within a year and would sustain around 70 direct jobs, with a further 20 indirectly. It would also create space for new business start-ups.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) has invested GBP2.5m in the project.

Robert Muir, chief executive of HIE Skye and Wester Ross, said: "Sabhal Mor has helped transform Gaelic into a language that is the expression of a vibrant, modern, forwardlooking culture."