To be built by Morrison Construction, the new Kirn Primary School has been designed to cater for 320 primary pupils together with capacity for an early years facility.

It is set to be delivered in a partnership with Argyll and Bute Council, hub North Scotland and Scottish Futures Trust. It is funded through the Scottish Government’s Schools for the Future programme.

The project itself will see the refurbishment of the original 1881 school building, the demolition of the later 1950’s extensions as well as the construction of a new primary school building on site. The new building will include classroom accommodation, a library, dining facilities and a sports hall.

This latest milestone, which paves the way for construction to begin, follows the project being granted planning permission in October last year.

The Kirn Primary School project is the third of four educational developments earmarked for Argyll and Bute, with projects to develop new secondary schools in Oban and Campbeltown also recently advancing to the construction stage. Plans for a new Dunoon Primary School are also at an advanced stage, with this project scheduled to reach contract close in the third quarter of 2016.

Angus Macfarlane, chief executive of hub North Scotland, said: “This is an important milestone for the development of a new primary school in Kirn and hub North Scotland is delighted to be involved in helping drive this project forward to fruition.

“hub North Scotland already has a successful working relationship with Argyll and Bute Council through its involvement with the Oban and Campbeltown secondary school projects and we’re looking forward to continuing to work closely with the organisation to deliver first class educational facilities that its staff, pupils and wider community will be proud of.”

Douglas Hendry, Argyll and Bute Council’s executive director for customer services, who signed the contract on behalf of the council, said: “Obviously we are very pleased to have reached this key stage in our new schools programme, with the contract for another school completed. The initiative is based on building high quality schools which will best serve our communities, delivering the Curriculum for Excellence and providing facilities for community use.

“The council is committed to building new, modern schools which will ensure a positive learning environment for our pupils.

“We are delighted to be moving into the construction phase, which will see this fabulous new primary school and early years facility completed towards the end of 2017.”