DUNDEE City Council has said boosting its schools estate and improving the sustainability of its buildings are amongst the key features of its £382 million capital programme.
The plan will cover the next five years, with £65 million earmarked for the new East End Community Campus for Braeview and Craigie High Schools.
A project board has already been established, with the local authority saying work is progressing towards the design of the new low carbon facility.
In addition, £16 million has been added to the capital plan for the development of a new primary school at the Western Gateway and £4.2 million, fully funded by Perth & Kinross Council, for the development of an extension to the south side of Harris Academy.
Stewart Hunter, convener of Dundee City Council’s children and families service committee, said, “With the money identified in this Capital Plan for a new East End Campus, secondary school buildings in parts of the city where there are significant challenges with poverty will be carefully designed to support learning in the future and help prepare pupils for the challenges of life after school.
“This is a bold and ambitious plan to transform for the future in what I am sure will be an exciting educational environment at a community campus where the education of pupils will benefit from advantages of scale that the current schools cannot offer.
“The further investment in the school estate across other parts of the city in this plan follow a long-term programme of school building improvements that has been going on in every part of Dundee for a number of years.”
In addition, provision in the plan reflects the council’s commitment to implementing measures that improve the carbon footprint of the city.
For all new builds/refurbishment programmes, the council said it ensures that the design of the building considers energy efficiencies/carbon reduction measures, and the costs of these measures are included within the overall cost of the project.
The new plan notes that potential future funding could become available from a number of sources including Scottish National Investment Bank and Green New Deal that will help the council to focus on decarbonising heat and transport which in turn supports Scotland’s transition to a net zero economy.
John Alexander, convener of the policy and resources committee, added, “The hundreds of millions of pounds identified in the capital plan that the council invests in construction and maintenance schemes across the city provides employment and other economic benefits for our citizens. The latest version of plan helps to lay the foundations to make Dundee a smarter, fairer and more sustainable place for everyone.
“People in all of our communities will feel the benefit of this massive investment in many different ways, be it through new schools, better leisure facilities or through the jobs and wealth that the plan sustains.”
The capital plan 2022-27 will be discussed at a meeting of the policy and resources committee on January 24.
