State-of-the-art Bertha Park school goes ahead Educational milestone
A significant milestone was passed for secondary education in Perth when the green light was given for a new school building and sports pitches at Bertha Park.
This week members of Perth and Kinross Council’s development management committee passed detailed plans for the new 1100-pupil school, which will be known as Bertha Park High School.
The application shows the school will be constructed on a nearly five-hectare site to the north-west of Perth, to the east of a new road and roundabout on flat ground currently used for farming.
Plans for a four-storey modern school building, a separate biomass-fuelled plant to heat it, playground areas, sports pitches, car parking and access were given approval on Wednesday.
Bertha Park High School will open in 2019 and sit at the top of a new High Street with a single sloping roof.
The design attempts to visually bridge the open rural area Of the new £32.5m school, above and right
behind the school and the urban residential development set to go up in front of it.
Space and a separate approach for up to 15 school buses will be created, in a different zoned area to the car park and bicycle racks.
The transport statement was submitted in March and requires exploration by the applicant of additional sustainable travel arrangements for Betha Park students.
It has been made a condition of moving into the school that a Green Travel Plan to encourage walking, cycling and public transport as a way of getting to class is submitted and approved by the council.
Play facilities to be built include a grass pitch, synthetic pitch and Multiple Use Games Area (MUGA). Construction traffic will have to stay away from the Inveralmond roundabout at peak times in the morning and afternoon. Sports field flood lighting will be allowed to stay on until 10pm and care will be taken to restrict noise levels.
The Bertha Park High School plans were revealed in a public consultation exhibition in November as part of the pre-application process.