PUPILS and staff from Boroughmuir High School have returned to the site of the former school building to see its transformation.
Headteacher David Dempster, alongside head boy Rodger Hu and depute head girl Alice Pereira Hind, have been given a socially-distanced tour of the building they left in 2018.
Built pre-WWI, the former school facility is being transformed into 87 apartments by CALA Homes (East).
Most of the mezzanine homes are converted from the classrooms of the school, which hosted more than 20,000 pupils over 104 years.
David Dempster said, “It’s been absolutely fabulous. It’s been so nice to see this old building recreated in such an innovative but yet sympathetic way. This was a school – our school – for over a hundred years so we haven’t lost it I’m really pleased to say, it’s still here. It’s still Boroughmuir High school but when you walk through that door, you really are entering a new world.
“It’s a special building in Edinburgh, there’s nothing else that looks like it. Where it is and what it is. It was a first in its time and I think it’s a first in its time again in terms of being a place to live. It’s lovely to see that when you are in here, there are still significant touches to the life of the building before. I love it. It meant a lot to us, it always will. It’s a landmark, Boroughmuir.”
