Building Briefs - April 15th

• Pupils move into £42m new Lossie High

Following pandemic-related delays, staff and pupils have taken up residence in the new three-storey school, which can accommodate up to 800 pupils, after 42 years in their old building.

The campus, jointly funded by Moray Council and Scottish Futures Trust, incorporates community facilities, a swimming pool, library, games hall and 3G sports pitch in an area the size of Trafalgar Square. Hub North Scotland developed and delivered the project with construction undertaken by Balfour Beatty.

Accommodation in the building is arranged around a central, double-height social and performance space. There are three learning plazas which can be used flexibly as breakout spaces for group work or year groups or, for example, carrying out STEM projects. 

Project director for hub North Scotland, Ewen Fowlie, said: “This has been a brilliant team effort in the face of some challenging conditions, due to covid-19, to deliver a wonderful facility which will be enjoyed by the Lossiemouth community for years to come.

“Not only has it resulted in a fantastic building, but it also created wider community benefits including 20 new jobs, employment for four new graduates, two new apprentices and 12 existing apprentices along with £23 million of work for Scottish small and medium-sized businesses.”

Project lead at Balfour Beatty, Jim McCluskie, added: “Despite the challenges we have faced as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic, we have remained focused on the safe and successful delivery of Lossiemouth High School; harnessing our unrivalled knowledge and expertise in delivering first-class learning facilities across Scotland.

“I would like to thank the public for their co-operation and patience whilst we completed this essential project that will service the local community for generations to come. The best of luck to all those joining the school today.”

The next phase of construction will see the demolition of the existing school and community building and completion of new parking, the 3G sports pitch and landscaping. The new community facilities are due to open to user groups on April 26 in line with Scottish Government Covid-19 restrictions lifting.

• Fife’s Woodmill and St Columba’s RC High Schools consultation now live

Proposals to move St Columba’s RC and Woodmill High Schools to a new learning campus, alongside Fife College, are now open to consultation.

The proposal is to rebuild both schools on land at the former Shepherd’s Offshore site, in Dunfermline, creating a state-of-the-art learning campus with Fife College. It’s believed that the relocation of the schools to a single site would offer the greatest benefits for both school communities.

Both schools have been designated as Category C (poor) for condition and replacement for them has been sought for some time. The joint campus proposal would see both schools housed in new, purpose-built facilities. 

The proposed learning campus would bring together pupils, students and staff at Woodmill High School and St Columba’s RC High School in modern, fit for purpose and low carbon facilities. 

There will be three online, live, public consultation events (using Microsoft Teams) along with more informal virtual drop-in events.

Each event link will be published at www.fife.gov.uk/learningcampus, a few days before the date.

• Plan to extend Kishorn construction yard

The operators of the Kishorn construction yard in Wester Ross have sought permission to extend its dry dock.

Kishorn would be available for decommissioning large marine structures, including ships 250m (820ft) long, if approval is given.

The yard on Loch Kishorn can currently handle vessels up to 160m (525ft) in length. Constructing the extension would involve excavating an area of nearby hillside.

Kishorn Port Ltd said the extension would also allow it to better handle work from the renewable energy sector.

Highland Council’s north planning applications committee will consider the proposals next week and officials have recommended granting permission.

• Lighting the way for an eco-friendlier West Lothian

Carbon emissions from West Lothian’s street lights have dropped by 77% since 2014.

The programme of replacing street lights with eco-friendly LED replacements began in 2014/15 and is now 85% complete, resulting in the massive drop in carbon emissions equal to 8,363 tons.

The replacement of over 41,000 street lights has also led to a 50% drop in energy consumption in the last seven years. This is despite growth in the total number of street lights maintained by the council by 5% over the seven-year period.

Over the next seven years, a further £16.4 million of investment is planned on road lighting works to complete the LED replacement programme, along with other upgrades and improvements such as lighting column replacements and cabling renewal.

The programme also includes a number of specific street improvements works across West Lothian up to 2027/28.

These include: Bishops Park, Mid Calder; Braehead/Stewart Avenue Area, Linlithgow; Brown Street/Hailstanes Crescent, Armadale; Brucefield Industrial Estate, Brucefield, Livingston; Carnegie Road, Deans, Livingston; Dedridge North Road, Dedridge, Livingston; East Bankton Place, Bankton, Livingston; Easton Road, Bathgate; Ecclesmachan Road, Uphall; Kilpunt Roundabout, Broxburn to boundary with Edinburgh;  Main Street, Mid Calder; Main Street/Kirk Lane/Charlesfield Lane, Livingston Village; Palmer Rise, Dedridge, Livingston; Staunton Rise, Dedridge, Livingston; and Westcraigs Road, Blackridge.

• Online showcase for graduating Art, Design and Architecture students

Hundreds of graduating University of Dundee students will showcase their creativity and innovation when the Art, Design and Architecture Graduate Showcase 2021 goes live in June.

The Graduate Showcase is an online exhibition taking place in the absence of the annual Degree Show, which has been cancelled due to ongoing Covid-19 restrictions.

The Graduate Showcase 2021 celebrates the extensive achievements of the graduating students from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design and the department of Architecture within the School of Social Sciences.

The launch event will be broadcast live online at 6pm on Friday 11 June for students, staff, families, friends, alumni and guests.

The Graduate Showcase will be accompanied by a range of events, including hearing from University alumni about their experiences and achievements after graduation, running until Monday 21 June.

The online exhibition was first trialled last year amid the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 18,000 people from around the world visiting the website, including employers, funders, curators and others who went on to offer opportunities to graduates.

The Art, Design and Architecture Graduate Showcase 2021 will be available to view online from June 11 at www.dundee.ac.uk/graduate-showcase.