A DEMAND for state-of-the-art teaching facilities in Scotland is being addressed in the Western Isles as Pick Everard helps to deliver a new school through the Scape framework.
The £8.4 million project, procured through the national Scape framework, will see leading independent design, construction and infrastructure consultancy Pick Everard provide project management and quantity surveying services for the scheme, which will see three existing primary schools combined into one.
The Sgoil Uibhist a’ Tuath, in the Outer Hebrides, will see the creation of 100 pupil places when work commences this month (April). The scheme will see extra provision for early learning and childcare (0-5-years-old), car and bus parking with drop off facilities, hard play areas including a multi-use games area and 3G synthetic pitch.
An environmental garden with polytunnel and planting area is also being landscaped as part of the project. Pick Everard director, Euan Matheson, said, “This project will help to boost the local community by providing a far better learning environment with state-of-the-art facilities and large outdoor recreational areas improving outcomes for the area’s young people. We are pleased to be working in partnership with the council to provide modern facilities which will cater for the 21st Century needs of the school and its users today and into the future.”
The project will see the demolition of the former secondary wing and head teacher’s house on the site.
Alastair Hamilton, partner at Pick Everard, added, “We are delighted to be working with the Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Our work in the education sector has become a particular specialism for us and is growing considerably, so it is very much a key area of our business.”
Cllr Catriona Stewart, chair of education and children’s services at Comhairle nan Eilean Siar, said, “I am delighted that the project has reached this key milestone. The Comhairle aims to allocate resources in a way which will secure the best possible educational experience for pupils in the Western Isles. A key objective is the effective deployment of resources to secure continuous improvement in educational achievement and attainment.”
The first phase of the project is expected to be handed over in the summer of 2016 with a winter 2016 handover for the remaining external works.
