Go-ahead for school conversion

The team behind the redevelopment of a former Perth school has won consent for its latest planning application.

Caledonia Housing Association, which is turning the mothballed Caledonian Road Primary School into affordable flats, submitted a revised bid to create six flats in the school’s old annexe.

Construction work is well under way on 28 flats in the main red sandstone school building, which dates back 1892. Another 21 flats are being built in the school’s former playground.

The latest application revealed plans to add a further six flats to the site’s two-storey outer building, which at one time housed the school’s gym, cafeteria and after-school club.

The whole development on the Victorian school, which shut its doors in 2009, is worth around £6 million.

The council has said any development on the site needs to “retain, and be sensitive to, the special architectural and historic character of the building”.

The flats will also need to meet the various needs of the housing association, while still maintaining the former school as an “impressive landmark” – according to the local authority.

Developers will be asked to make a financial contribution to local primary schools, to help cope with the influx of families the new housing is expected to bring. The estate is zoned for Inch View Primary.