IT COULD be one of the quickest building projects Hampshire has ever seen.

Hundreds of volunteers have been hard at work battling against the clock to get a new £400,000 hall constructed in Lymington.

When it is finished, the new Kingdom Hall will be home to the town's Jehovah's Witnesses.

The 95 local Jehovah's Witnesses have been joined by their fellow brothers from across the south to build their own hall.

Up to 170 volunteers have been on the site in Marsh Lane at one time, all split into carefully planned and monitored teams.

On Thursday, the site - formerly the home of a Scout hut until the Scouts relocated to New Milton - was flat. By the weekend, the walls were up and fixtures and fittings were going in, and by next Sunday the building should be finished.

John Bonathan, of Pilley, said: "There has been a real buzz about this, among the brothers and the wider community.

"People are as excited as we are because of what's happening and how it's happening. It's a hive of activity with each team doing their own thing."

The volunteers included 40 experienced tradesmen, such as plumbers, builders and electricians.

Clive Wren, of Lymington, said: "We are doing it this way and building it in about eight days because it takes too long otherwise and detracts from our main work. It's going to be a Bible education centre for the local community."

Project chairman John Furneaux travelled from Bristol to oversee the build. He said: "This has been done many times before but now we build halls and also refurbish them.

"The original concept was to do the whole thing in three days, but health and safety makes that difficult.

"Now, we build the halls over one weekend and fit them out the next."

When complete, the Lymington hall will seat up to 147 people and will be used for regular weekly meetings on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays.