Education convener Cllr Ian Perry and vice convener Cllr Alison Dickie join Queensferry High School head of school David Williamson and local primary school pupils on the site of the new school

Excited primary school pupils were given an exclusive tour of the construction work at the new £40 million Queensferry High School yesterday.

The P6 pupils from local primary schools will be the first pupils to start S1 at the school which is due to be completed in Spring 2020.

Initial works on the school, being delivered by hub South East in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, started earlier in the year. The main building works, being delivered by Morrison Construction as the lead contractor, are now underway on the site.

The proposals include greatly enhanced sports facilities such as a larger games hall and a six lane swimming pool (increased in size from four lanes after taking into account community feedback), a new fitness centre, dance studio and floodlit 3G and 4G pitches.

The plans make many areas easily accessible to the public such as the assembly space within the school which is multi-functional with retractable seating that can be used for drama shows and film screenings. Similarly, areas like dining, CDT, food tech and art have been positioned so they can be easily accessed by the community for out of hours classes for maximum use of all these areas.

The new school is being built on the current school’s playing fields and, following completion, the old school will be demolished, with the area landscaped and a new pitch created on the site.

Local primary school pupils give the site of the new Queensferry High School the thumbs up

Councillor Ian Perry, convener for education, children and families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “It was great to see the construction work on the site progressing so well on our fourth new high school that we have built in recent years. This demonstrates our commitment to investing in our children’s education with the additional financial support from the Scottish Government’s Schools for the Future programme.

“With the expanding population in Queensferry our exciting plans for the school will provide much-needed community facilities and many of the areas will be easily accessible to the public which I’m sure they will be delighted with.”

Councillor Alison Dickie, vice convener for education, children and families at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “The new Queensferry High is a great example of how we are taking every opportunity to innovatively build schools for the future that are fit for 21st Century learning. An important element of the school design is the many aspects that support greater accessibility and inclusion for all young people.

“The learning support and guidance suite has been purposely designed with direct input from specialist staff and the interior environment, in terms of lighting and acoustics, furniture and decoration, has been designed to accommodate pupils with a wide range of needs.

“We will continue to develop the designs of our future school projects so they can support the needs of all learners and provide a much more inclusive environment promoting greater health and wellbeing.”

John Wood, head teacher at Queensferry High School, said: “The event marks a seminal moment in the new build as we progress from the planning stage to that of construction.

“It will be exciting to see the new school take shape over with innovative learning spaces and resources which will benefit both the school and wider community well into the 21st century.”

Roddy Clark, hub South East’s projects director, said: “It’s exciting to be on site now that main construction works have begun, with Queensferry High School now a step closer to reality.

“As well as providing high quality, modern facilities for pupils and teaching staff, the new school features a low carbon design. This will not only deliver energy efficiencies and satisfy increasing environmental targets, but importantly it should have a beneficial effect on the learning environment and educational attainment for Queensferry’s young people.”

David Wilson, Morrison Construction operation’s director, said: “We look forward to continuing our successful relationship with the City of Edinburgh Council and Hub South East as we deliver this education facility for pupils, staff and wider Queensferry community.

“Throughout construction we will continue to engage with all stakeholders while creating education and employment opportunities ensuring this project has a positive impact locally. On Friday we are hosting a Meet the Buyer event and soon West Lothian College pupils will visit site visits to learn about our industry and the opportunities it offers.”

Some of the Primary 2 children at Currie Primary School outside their new classrooms

Five more primary schools opened new classrooms in Edinburgh yesterday marking the sixth successful year of the Rising Roll programme of school extensions with hub South East and Morrison Construction.

The schools involved in this year’s phase include Currie, Davidson’s Mains, Granton, Stockbridge and Trinity Primaries and the new space delivered means that increasing pupil numbers can be accommodated in modern, long lasting facilities within school grounds.

Richard Park, operations director, hub South East Scotland Ltd, said: “I am proud to be marking the sixth successful year working in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council to tackle the issue of rising school rolls.

“In total we’ve now delivered 25 facilities on time and on budget through this innovative £22 million programme, providing quality, long term classrooms to tight timescales.

“We’ve had excellent feedback from staff and pupils about their new learning environments and we look forward to working on future phases, continuing this successful, collaborative effort.”

Cllr Ian Perry, education convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, added: “We have been proactive in tackling the challenge of rising schools for the past six years to ensure our pupils have the very best learning environment. This year five schools have benefitted from new classrooms, including our biggest single project of eight classes at Davidson’s Mains Primary School.

“The new buildings are a great example of how we have responded to accommodation issues by working with school communities to come up with suitable solutions. This council has led the way in Scotland in taking such an innovative and collaborative approach to tackling the issue of rising rolls and invested significantly in the new accommodation delivered.”

David Wilson, operations director for Morrison Construction, said: “We are very proud of the Rising Rolls programme.

“Work has progressed quickly and with minimum disruption to the teaching staff and pupils, who have been present while the work has been ongoing at each location. The teams have worked hard to get the new facilities completed in time for the 2018-2019 school year and we are delighted with the outcome.

“This programme isn’t just about bricks and mortar, but about investing in children’s education and supporting our schools to provide the best possible start in life for these young residents.”

Containers for artists and entrepreneurs arriving on site

Work has begun on site to breathe new life into the old tram depot on Leith Walk.

The £1.3 million regeneration project will bring an at risk building back into use as well as providing much needed space for artists and other creative entrepreneurs.

The project, being funded by the Scottish Government (£750,000) and the City of Edinburgh Council (£530,000) is being delivered for the council by development partner hub South East, with Morrison Construction the main contractor.

The at risk building on 165A Leith Walk is being stripped back to its shell internally and will be refurbished to create a temporary community services hub for the voluntary and public sectors. NHS Lothian and Capital City Partnerships are set to move in this Autumn.

The shipping containers, to be used by local artists and entrepreneurs, arrived this week. They will now be fitted out by social enterprise, Rebuild. The project is therefore providing much needed training opportunities during the construction phase.

When the containers are occupied, Art and Education Trust, Out of the Blue, will partner with the council to manage them as well as the community hub.

Work on the project, which is expected to be complete in the Autumn, will provide quality community space until a longer term plan for the site is found.

Cllr Kate Campbell, housing and economy convener for the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “This is an amazing project which has had a huge amount of community involvement.

“Leith Walk is one of the most densely populated and fastest growing places in Scotland, with a strong sense of identity and an incredibly engaged community. This project will create much needed space for local artists and other creative entrepreneurs as well as providing valuable community space. It is also great to see training and job opportunities as part of the project.”

Marcus Weurman, hub South East’s development manager, said: “Hub South East has been involved from the very start, proposing ideas for the development and helping the Council secure funding, so it’s exciting to have followed the journey this far and to see work start on site on the Leith Meanwhile project.

“This is true partnership working in action. It’s a real opportunity after 60 years to turn this site back into a space that can be used meaningfully for the benefit of the local community and we’re incredibly proud to be involved.”

The new Queensferry High School project has reached an important milestone as financial close was achieved yesterday clearing the way for main construction works to begin, with the school due to be completed by Spring 2020.

The £40m school, is being delivered by Hub South East in partnership with the City of Edinburgh Council, with Morrison Construction appointed as main contractor.

Plans, approved by Council in January, include a new school, incorporating a sports hall and new 6 lane swimming pool (increased in size from 4 lanes after taking into account community feedback).

Externally there will be a new full sized 3G pitch for football within the site and access to a full sized 3G pitch for rugby and football off site (not linked with the application), as well as running track, long jump, shot put provision, rounders pitch and three hard play spaces marked out for basketball/netball.

The new school will be built on the current school’s playing fields and, following completion, the old school will be demolished, with the area landscaped and a new pitch created on the site.

Roddy Clark, Hub South East’s projects director, said: “A great deal of work has gone into the development and design of this project in the background, so reaching Financial Close is a significant milestone in making the new Queensferry High School a reality.

“We’re particularly proud that through this project, Hub South East is leading the way in realising progressive government policy aspirations in relation to low carbon, as the new school is receiving funds through the Scottish Futures Trust to ensure a low carbon design. Ultimately this will not only satisfy increasing environmental targets but should have a beneficial effect on the learning environment and educational attainment as well as life cycle costs of the building.

“This is just one of the ways we’re working with clients to demonstrate innovation and ensure we are bringing added value to the projects we deliver.”

Cllr Ian Perry, education convener of the City of Edinburgh Council, added: “With initial work having started on site last month, Financial Close means the main construction can begin on the new building which will provide a state of the art school for our young people and great community facilities.

“We have successfully worked with Hub South East Scotland before over the past seven years and are delighted to be working with the Scottish Government on this important project.”

Eddie Robertson, Morrison Construction managing director central building said: ‘‘This is a significant milestone for this fantastic project. We have a proud history of delivering state-of-the-art education facilities and we look forward to continuing to work closely with our partners Hub South East and the City of Edinburgh Council.

‘‘During construction we will continue our engagement with all stakeholders while providing education and employment opportunities to ensure the development has a lasting positive impact.’’

Gemma Boggs, education delivery director at the Scottish Futures Trust, added: “Our management of the Scotland’s Schools for the Future programme is helping all of Scotland’s 32 councils succeed in delivering the very best teaching and learning environments within ever-tightening budgets.

“As well as supporting many thousands of construction jobs, the programme is creating and delivering world-class, award-winning learning environments that not only meet future educational needs but are vibrant community assets as well.

“I am delighted to see Queensferry High School enter construction which is embracing lower carbon technologies to help towards other Scottish Government policy objectives and is an innovative example of delivering against one of the key programme principles of building schools which are greener, more sustainable and environmentally efficient.”