Building Briefs – September 24

The first in a series of consultation events in Aberdeen on proposals for a city centre master plan is being held.

Members of the public are being encouraged to offer their ideas on how the city can be improved.

The suggestions will then be considered, and a plan will be presented at the end of the year.

Aberdeen City Council said Wednesday’s event was taking place in the Academy Shopping Centre from 10:00 to 17:00.

On Thursday it will run from 10:00 until 20:00, then from 10:00 until 17:00 on Friday and Saturday.

In January, an architect revealed proposals including a roof over part of Union Street.

John Halliday said covering over part of the main thoroughfare, between Union Bridge and Market Street, would provide weatherproof links between shopping centres.

Parents backing plans for £23m school in Perth

Parents have welcomed proposals for a multi-million-pound secondary school on the edge of Perth.

The £23 million development is earmarked for land at the city’s Bertha Park and is due to open in early 2018.

The Scottish Government agreed to partly fund the new establishment after a recent study showed that the Perthshire population was forecast to rise by about 24 per cent in the next 25 years.

The planned 1,100-capacity school will ease pressure on existing establishments, which now face major overcrowding problems.

This week, a public consultation with local families got underway, with the first of a series of eight meetings at Bankfoot.

Several grass sports fields are planned as part of the development, as well as an all weather pitch.

Facilities for pupils with additional support needs will also be provided.

The council secured £15.3m of Scottish Government funds for the new school in July 2012. Later that year, the council agreed to pay £7.6m towards the scheme out of its own budget.

A condition of the funding is that the new school must be up and running by the end of March 2018.

The school will be the centrepiece of a larger £40m development in the north of the city which includes proposals for thousands of new homes and a number of businesses, with the potential to create up to 5,000 jobs.

As part of that development, the school will be serviced by the first section of the proposed Cross Tay Link Road between the A93 at Scone and the A9, part of the Perth Transport Future project.