Finishing School

Following a review of its schools provision, the Highland Council, based in Inverness, has implemented an extensive new build programme which is providing eleven new schools to meet the current and future needs for primary and secondary education for the Highlands of Scotland region.  Because of the large scale of this £132 million plus programme it has been undertaken under a public private partnership procurement programme by ALPHA schools consortium with Morrison Construction and Tulloch Construction carrying out the construction projects for the consortium.

"The new schools programme has transformed the previous 19^th Century buildings to 21^st Century state-of-the-art education in one leap," says Ken Allen of The Highland Council.

Having assessed the need for educational facilities, a bidding conference was held in June 2003 and the project sanctioned to go to construction in April 2006.  There are six new primary schools and five secondary schools involved with five of the primary schools delivered this year and the remaining primary and all secondary schools due for completion in September 2008 ready for the start of the new academic year.

A steering group was established for each individual school to ensure the needs and desires of each community were taken into account.

Keppie Design designed the single storey primary schools using timber framed construction with blockwork and render with rainscreen cladding for the higher elements of the buildings, together with hi tech aluminium roofing.

The larger secondary schools are on several levels and are steel framed with a mixture of timber frame and blockwork walls with rainscreen cladding. 

The new primary schools have now been completed and are in use.  They have been designed as modern, high quality facilities to provide an appealing and functional environment for learning, with classrooms surrounding a central resource area, which is the effective 'heart' of each school. 

Whilst retaining a common concept in line with the education requirements, individually they all have features specifically designed for the communities and vocations. A particular feature of the design of the schools is the use of a colour theme with some stronger colours as accent highlights and to designate different functions, especially to identify the main school entranceways.

Subject to harsh weather in exposed locations, a high quality paint system was specified to provide a highly durable, longlife protective and decorative finish in preference to colour renders which were considered prone to inconsistency in finish.

The Keim Granital paint system was chosen for its proven performance, its resistance to severe conditions and for its environmental benefits, being water based, VOC and solvent free, odourless and use of natural earth oxide pigments and inorganic mineral fillers.  It also meets the preference for a flat matt finish for walls, similar to the traditional limewash styles of the area and offers design flexibility with an extensive fade free colour range which includes strong colours.

The treatment is highly cost-effective as it is a genuine two coat system and does not require a mist coat prior to decoration.

The secondary schools are currently under construction and are designed to the same high quality building materials specification.  They occupy the sites of existing schools which they will replace.

Response to the new primary schools has been extremely positive from teachers, pupils and parents, all of whom welcome the modern facilities and conducive atmosphere created by the well-planned new facilities.

The secondary schools will also provide much welcomed improvements and the education provision by The Highlands Council is now of the very highest order indeed.

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