The new state-of-the-art building for St Patrick’s Primary will be on the original Broomhill Street site following the demolition of the old school.

Education & communities convener, Councillor Terry Loughran, said: “It has taken months of planning and hard work but the formalities have now been completed and it won’t be long before we start to see the new school taking shape. This is yet another milestone moment in this important project and I would like to thank everyone involved for getting us to the stage we are at. I would also like to praise the patience of the pupils, parents and entire school community who recognise that a relatively short period of inconvenience will be well worth the final result.”

The original St Patrick’s Primary was initially earmarked for refurbishment as part of Inverclyde Council’s £270m Schools Estate programme delivering new or refurbished schools across the area.

However, the council recognised the cost of building a new school at the same site could be around £100,000 less than a refurbishment because of the greater amount of Scottish Government funding that would become available - £3.4m from the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme.

Grant Robertson, schools programme director at the Scottish Futures Trust, said: “Protecting local jobs. Creating better schools. Achieving value for money. These are just a few of the benefits being delivered through the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme that SFT manages. I very much look forward to seeing St Patrick’s Primary open and witness the real value of the programme with pupils being taught in modern, first-class facilities.”

The school is being delivered by hub West Scotland, the council’s development partner, in conjunction with main contractor Lend Lease and architect Holmes Miller.

Debbie McNamara, CEO of hub West Scotland, added: “This is our first project to be developed with Inverclyde Council which also utilises the Primary School Reference Design that is being successfully delivered with other local authority partners. We are committed to delivering this new school facility late next year.”

Work will begin on site over the next few weeks and is due to be completed by October 2016.

The school will be decanted to the former Sacred Heart Primary school until the new building is ready.