The proposed new school will deliver a two-stream primary school with provision for 434 pupils and 60 early years places on a dedicated site to serve new housing developments at Newhills.

The design would feature zero emissions heating/cooling and will maximise the opportunities in good passive design principals, primarily targeted around minimising heating demand and heat losses through thermal performance characteristics, efficient windows, and reducing losses associated with thermal bridging and air infiltration rates.

Members of Aberdeen City Council’s Finance and Resource Committee agreed to the preferred design for the school and for officers to report back to a future meeting of the committee next year (2024) with a Full Business Case.

Committee convener Councillor Alex McLellan said: “We welcome this latest stage for the proposed new school at Newhills. Exemplar net zero and green credentials are important for all new council buildings as part of the city’s journey to net zero.”

A report to committee said the landscape strategy for the proposed new school would help promote biodiversity across the site by establishing green planting corridors which would link across to the green spaces found to the north of the site. A School Travel Plan would be also developed and in place prior to completion to enhance options for active and sustainable travel.

There is also an opportunity to explore providing waste material to the anaerobic digestion plant at the P&J Live facility as part of a Waste Management Plan for the proposed new school.

The report said stakeholders within the Newhills community will be given an opportunity to share their views and contribute to the decision-making process for the proposals. As the design is developed, information, drawings, and images will be generated in a format suitable for sharing with stakeholders at the appropriate time to help generate discussion and gather feedback.

The report said the proposed primary school would be for the Newhills Expansion Area where 2,400 new homes are currently being built on the western edge of the city.

Planning permission has been granted for parts of Newhills Expansion Area at Craibstone South with 700 homes and Rowett South with 1,700 homes which are currently under construction.

The report to committee said the proposed development would be part funded by Section 75 developer contributions from these housing developments, and the Full Business Case detailing final project costs will be reported back to committee for review and any necessary approvals.

The new building would form part of the city council’s route to net zero, the report said, by:

• Contributing to net zero carbon route map and is aligned to Scottish Future Trust’s Net Zero Public Sector Buildings Standard
• Having estimated energy cost savings of about £34,000 per year
• Delivering a building to Passivhaus principles and is £2,733,300 cheaper than the Passivhaus Standard Certified.