A TEAM of 40 Colchester builders is at the forefront of a £34million project to build a luxury spa.

Hutton Construction is working on the new complex, which will include 100 guest rooms and 87 treatment rooms.

It will employ 250 local people when it opens next year.

The spa is being built on the site of the former Georgian-style mansion Thorpe Hall, in Thorpe-le-Soken, five miles outside Clacton.

Already, the three-storey accommodation units are up to roof level and the foundations of the spa and swimming pool have been dug.

Site manager Mick Atkins, from Hutton Construction, said: “This is our largest contract in the area.

“I have more than 100 sets of drawings in my office to follow.

“We have 40 men on site at the moment, all local guys.

“The spa basement is complete and the retaining walls are now being constructed.

“The spa is on target and due to be complete and fully-fitted out by end of October next year, for opening on the first weekend in November.”

The spa will include a swimming pool, sauna, steam rooms, exercise rooms and meditation rooms. It will also offer an extensive range of holistic and complementary therapies.

The current entrance to the site is off Station Road, but a new road has been built to connect it with Thorpe Road.

It has taken six years to gain planning permission for the project, which is set in 130 acres of pasture and parkland, with 14 acres of beautifully landscaped gardens and three lakes.

Thorpe Hall press officer Linda Hall said: “We already have a health and fitness week planned for November 2010, with local fitness trainers Dave Bond and Kate Mitchell.

“Our focus will be on optimum health and wellbeing.”