DEVELOPMENT of the £4.7 million Etches Collection Museum of Jurassic Marine Life has reached a key milestone.

Engineers working on the site have just installed the building's cross laminate timber frame.

The Etches Museum, which will be based in Kimmeridge, will house what is claimed to be one of the finest collections of late Jurassic Kimmeridgian fossils ever assembled in Britain.

A museum spokesman explained: "Finally the site is now starting to resemble the building that it will eventually evolve into once complete.

"The collection includes many species new to science and has redefined understanding of marine life in the Kimmeridgian Age - the geological era that the village of Kimmeridge has given its name to.

"The museum and interactive learning centre means that these remarkable fossils will be conserved for future generations and available to see and study in the locality where the specimens were found and would have lived some 150 million years ago."

Steve Etches MBE, a plumber who is also one of the world's most renowned collectors of fossils, dedicated his collection of more than 2,000 exhibits to the museum for public display.

In February 2014 a £2.7 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund was given to the Kimmeridge Trust to develop the museum.

The museum spokesman said: "The museum will open in late summer 2016, making this unique collection available to everyone for the first time.

"There will be a visible workshop so that Steve Etches can continue to advance his work and grow the collection whilst transferring his skills and sharing his knowledge with others."