Students at Eastwood High School couldn’t wait to get back to class after the summer holidays – they had a brand new £29m secondary school and sports centre waiting for them at their Newton Mearns campus.
Eastwood, which was built by BAM, is one of the first high schools delivered through the Scottish Futures Trust Pilot Schools programme.
The new school has a bright central atrium, classrooms filled with natural light and an internal grid that allows for complete future flexibility. The building sits sympathetically in its woodland setting, thanks to high quality natural materials.
In addition, the existing school sports building, which housed a small hall and swimming pool, has been extended and enhanced to create a new community sports hub with state-of-the-art facilities, including two large multi-court halls and a fitness/dance studio. Outside, there is a new synthetic athletics track and hockey pitch. The new grass sports pitches will be finished by the end of this year.
Elaine Green, education convenor of East Renfrewshire Council, says, “Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from everyone who has visited the school. There’s a real buzz of excitement over the great new facilities.
“Appreciation is due to BAM, which has helped us deliver a truly inspiring environment for learning and teaching and first-class facilities for the community. The BAM team have worked well with us to keep the focus on quality.”
She also praised BAM and its subcontractors for donating their time and resources for free to carry out additional refurbishment work to bring the existing swimming pool and games hall up to the quality of the new sports facilities.
The head teacher, Stuart Maxwell, was impressed by how little the school was disrupted: “To construct such a large building so close to the existing school without any inconvenience has been a major achievement. That had not just happened by chance; a high level of professionalism on the part of all BAM employees has made the construction phase very smooth indeed.”
Doug Keillor, regional director for BAM Construction, said: “There is nothing better than having a satisfied customer. Hopefully this new building will provide the proper academic and learning environment to continue Eastwood High School’s impressive record of achievement for many years to come.”
BAM, with its Scottish headquarters in Stepps, is a leading player in the education sector and has also recently delivered secondary schools for Fife, Midlothian, Renfrewshire and West Dunbartonshire Councils.
