Building work is well underway at a new base for Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team.

Foundations have been laid, the steel structure has been built and work is being done to make the building water tight by the end of this week.

Over £555,000 is being spent on the purpose-built headquarters on land on the outskirts of Gosforth.

John Bamforth, chairman of Wasdale Mountain Rescue Team, has spoken about how it feels to see the build underway.

He said: "It doesn't seem real. It was over ten years ago since we first starting asking for permission to have some land."

The new, £555,096, base will be built on land just off the A595. The land is currently owned by the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and will be leased at a peppercorn rent.

Foundation and structural work has been carried out so far.

"By the end of this week, the cladding should be completed around the outside. It should be reasonably water tight by the end of this week," said Mr Bamforth.

"It's going to be April time when the building is handed over by the main contractor and it will take another couple of months to fit out."

It will officially open September next year to coincide with the team's 50th anniversary.

The new facility will include a training tower to allow members to practise difficult rescues and will have a retractable 18m radio mast to allow for better communication between members.

There will be specific areas for the team leader and controller to work from as well as an area for team members to prepare for callouts.

The building has been designed by Richard Mottram of Egremont, and further developed by WK Design Architects Ltd. The contract was awarded to Roland Hill Ltd.

The bulk of the cash for the new-build has come from the team themselves, with the rest from Copeland Community Fund (£218,000) and the Lake District Search and Mountain Rescue Association (12,000).

An online fundraising campaign hit £60,000 after Adam Nolan set it up in 2014 to thank the team for helping reunite him with his lost dog Jasper.

And there has also been two significant legacies.

Plans are in the pipeline to change over from analogue to digital methods of communications for the team.

The team mainly covers the Wasdale and Eskdale valleys, extending over Cold Fell towards the coast in the north and onto Ulpha fell in the south.

The scene for many rescues is Scafell Pike – England's highest mountain.