ON the eve of this year’s Learning Places Scotland and EdTech conference and exhibition, it has been revealed that the national hub programme is setting the pace in delivering new learning estate infrastructure with almost £5 billion of projects completed, under construction, or being developed.
The five regional hub companies, collectively known as Hub Scotland, are also said to be adding value to their projects by ensuring they are fully aligned with local, regional and national priorities in areas such as net zero, placemaking, social impact, and community wealth building.
Learning Places Scotland and EdTech takes place at the SEC in Glasgow on Tuesday 18 November. Hub Scotland is a key supporter of the event, now in its eighth year, and is also one of the sponsors of the awards dinner.
Among the hub initiatives being highlighted this year is the North Schools Programme created by hub North Scotland in collaboration with five local authorities who are working together to deliver eight new and refurbished school projects in a single programme of work.
Other key projects include the £112 million Dunfermline Learning Campus delivered on behalf of Fife Council by hub East Central, which is officially the largest Passivhaus education building in the world.
Hub South East has just completed the £61 million Peebles High School on behalf of Borders Council and hub West has completed phase one of the £34 million Faifley Community Campus for West Dunbartonshire, which has two primary schools, an early learning and childcare centre, and Additional Support Needs base and community facilities.
Hub South West has two flagship projects shortlisted for this year’s Learning Places Scotland awards: the £59 million Maybole Community Campus delivered for South Ayrshire Council and the £21 million Montgomerie Park Primary School, which was the first Passivhaus school to be built for North Ayrshire Council.
The five hub companies have between them completed more than £3.2 billion of new and refurbished learning estate with another £607 million of projects currently under construction and £1.03 billion being developed.
The theme for this year’s Learning Places Scotland conference is ‘Maximising the Learning Experience Across the Learning Estate’ and hub North Scotland chief executive Richard Park, who is on the conference advisory group, said the hub programme had a key role in helping achieve that.
He explained, “The national hub programme does far more than simply developing and delivering new learning estate. We help make projects affordable through initiatives like the North Schools Programme and we add value through our far-reaching community benefits work, creating opportunities for economic growth and working together on policy priorities such as placemaking and net zero.
“The hub companies, both individually and collectively as Hub Scotland, have unrivalled experience in successfully delivering inspiring learning spaces in collaboration with our public sector clients and our supply chain partners. Learning Places Scotland not only gives us an opportunity to highlight those collective achievements, it also allows us to continuously improve our offer by sharing and learning from others across the industry.”
Jenny Gilruth MSP, the cabinet secretary for education and skills, will deliver a keynote address at the conference. Several Hub Scotland projects have been shortlisted for the awards dinner while hub South East is shortlisted for the Consultancy of the Year.
