First look at new design for £50m Perth High School

We reveal architects’ graphic for new facility

The Courier can today reveal the dramatic design for a new £50 million Perth High School.

An architects’ graphic shows how the 1,600-capacity building could look when it opens its doors in four years’ time.

Perth and Kinross Council launches a 12-week consultation on the proposal this afternoon.

Parents are urged to help shape the ultra modern facility, which promises to be more advanced and eco-friendly than recently launched Bertha Park High.

The local authority said the current Perth High

School, which dates back to the 1960s, needs to be replaced. The new build scheme is the council administration’s biggest capital project to date.

NORR Architects and Robertson Construction, who both worked on Bertha Park High School, have been appointed to lead the project.

Education chiefs have taken the wraps off their £50 million vision for Perth High School.

The Courier can today reveal architects’ proposals for the highly anticipated replacement school, which is due to open its doors in August 2023.

The computer-generated image shows a huge three-storey, triangleshaped building with rows of floor-toceiling windows.

It will be built within the school grounds, replacing a football pitch to the west of the current building on land between Oakbank Road and Viewlands Road West. New sports pitches will be created as part of the project.

Norr Architects and construction firm Robertson Construction, who both worked on the recently launched Bertha Park High School, have been appointed to lead the project.

Perth and Kinross Council promises that the new building will be even more advanced than Bertha Park, which is Scotland’s first brand new school building (not a replacement) this century. And it aims to be one of the most environmentally friendly schools in Scotland.

Parents will get the chance to help shape plans for the new building during a 12-week consultation, which gets under way this afternoon.

The public are being invited to learn more about the development and question designers at an open event in the school from 4-8pm.

Feedback will be used while finalising a planning application, which is expected to be submitted in the coming months.

The local authority has stressed that the architects’ proposal – which will be used during the consultation – is indicative and could be changed.

The council’s senior business and resources manager, Greg Boland, said that inspiration will be taken from Bertha Park but it won’t be a “replica”.

“Just having opened Bertha Park, it is probably now five years out of date because things move on,” he said.

“Education is a constantly moving target and we are building facilities to meet those targets.”

He added: “Given the low-carbon objectives and targets that have recently come through from the UK climate commission and the Scottish Government, we are doing a full reappraisal of how we achieve lower carbon levels when the building opens in four years’ time, when the targets and aspirations will be much higher.”

The rebuild of 1,600-capacity Perth High was approved last year.

Council leader Murray Lyle said the £50m scheme was needed because the 1960s-built school was in a poor condition, and had “probably gone beyond its life expectancy”.

After the consultation, a User Reference Group (URG) will be formed to keep parents and other interested parties up-to-date with design developments.

A council spokeswoman said: “The new school will be a tandem build, with the new school being built on playing fields and sports pitch while the school stays operational in the current building.”

Education is a constantly moving target and we are building facilities to meet those targets. GREG BOLAND

A computer-generated impression of how the £50 million Perth High School could look.