Urgent action call on ‘dire’ school facilities
Toilets are highlighted
A council group leader has pressed officials to make urgent improvements at Perth High School after describing conditions in some areas of the ageing institution as “dire”.
The local authority is currently in the process of drawing up plans to have a £50 million replacement ready by 2023 but local SNP leader Dave Doogan believes the old building also needs work done on it right now.
He made his opinion known at a meeting of the council’s property subcommittee on Monday as members read through papers providing an update on the new Perth High project.
The Perth City North councillor said: “The situation in the school will need to be addressed.
“There are some real pressures for learners and teachers in that building ... not the least of which is the dining facility capacity and the toileting situation ... [which] I understand to be pretty dire.
“I know that we’re limited in terms of we’ve only got the building that we’ve got until we’ve got the new school ... but can I ask that it’s looked at? Is there something we can do competently to address that in between now and having a new school operational?”
An official replied the council had already “invested significantly” in the building over the last three or four years and that a sum had been set aside to maintain it until the new school is built. He added he would speak to councillor Doogan about the specific concerns he raised about Perth High after the meeting.
The papers outlining the council’s progress on the new Perth High project said: “A new project request (NPR) was submitted to HubCo in June 2019 to deliver the project under a design, build and development agreement (DBDA) (Capital).
“Robertson Construction has been marine engineer Victoria Drummond.
Music will be provided by Perth’s Marjory KennedyFraser and will be British Sign Language interpreted with integrated audio description.
Echoes from Perthshire is a collaboration between Culture Perth and Kinross, the creative organisation behind AK Bell Library, the University of St Andrews’ SHINE Project (astronomy and physics), Errol Primary School, Letham Primary School and Bertha Park High School.
Tickets to Echoes from Perthshire cost £5, concessions £3.50 from 01738 444949 or library@ culturepk.org.uk selected as the tier one consultants (main contractor). The tier two consultants selected comprise of NORR (architects), Atelier 10 (mechanical and electrical) and Baker Hicks (civil and structural).
“Development of the outline proposals commenced in July 2019. The 12-week pre-application consultation period required for the major planning application will commence in October 2019.”
The update went on: “As part of the stage one process, lower or net-zero carbon building options are being considered as part of the council’s response to climate change.
“In addition, the project is involved in the Scottish Futures Trust ‘Construction Quality Initiative’ to learn lessons from previous large construction projects and develop processes and systems to minimise risk of the reoccurrence of quality issues.
“Outcomes will be embedded in other council projects going forward.”
Members of the public will be able to view the council’s preliminary plans for the new school at a drop-in session being held in the existing school’s assembly hall this coming Monday (October 28) between 4pm and 8pm.