Campaigners’ fears for school
CAMPAIGNERS trying to save a former Glasgow school fear it could be left to further decay due to a delay in proposals being heard by the city council.
The Sir John Maxwell school in the city’s Southside has lain empty for the past 12 years and is in need of urgent repairs before an alternative use for the site can go ahead.
At a meeting of Glasgow City Council City Administration in June a decision on whether to demolish or carry out repair work to the Christian Street school was postponed to allow officers to engage with campaigners. It would cost £270,000 to demolish and £830,000 to carry out repairs.
The Sir John Maxwell School Trust has ambitious plans to convert the building into a £6.3 million environmental hub and prepared a full report which they understood would be heard at a meeting later this month.
However, the trust has now been told that the matter won’t be brought back to the council until next May.
A spokesperson for the trust said: “The City Administration in June postponed a decision on repairing the roof of the school and asked officers to work with the trust to develop the idea of an Environmental Learning Centre plus workspaces.
“We produced a 20-page report with detailed costings in September and forwarded it to the council. This shows how the project can be a major contributor to Glasgow’s environmental objectives.
“We understood that a recommendation of some sort it would go to the next Committee on November 18. However, we have been informed that the officers do not propose to do this but postpone any consideration until after the May 2022 elections.”
Trust members are concerned the delay will result in further deterioration of the building, possibly putting it in jeopardy beyond saving.
Their plans include retro-fitting the school to accommodate activities which address Glasgow’s and Scotland’s 21st century challenges by a combination of an Environmental Demonstration and Learning Centre and related workspaces.
A key objective will be to demonstrate and promote the principles and techniques of sustainable reuse at every step of the project design and retro-fitting process.
This will cover new heating and energy systems, materials reuse, reducing waste, sustainable food production and consumption and a model ecoflat/ecohouse.
A spokesperson for Glasgow City Council said: “We will continue to make the building safe through physical interventions before further consideration is given and a decision made on the future of the former school.”
We have been informed the officers do not propose any consideration until after the May 2022 elections