Building a future East Ayrshire – educational facilities

Elected members agreed a number of recommendations including – the allocation of an additional £8.5m to the Doon Valley Community Campus project, the allocation of an additional £2.4m to the Stewarton Academy extension an additional £1.5m to the Lainshaw Primary refurbishment, with both expected to be supported by future developer contributions. A further report will be presented to a future meeting of Cabinet setting out the wider needs of the Learning Estate, including the implications of demography.

Design work will now progress quickly at Doon Academy where plans will be developed for the construction of a new extension, the removal of asbestos and demolition of the existing two storey block, replace and upgrade the roof, improve the internal layout of the school and leisure spaces, improve the external fabric of all exterior walls and the replacement of all windows and doors. In total it is estimated this will cost £33.5m. A staged delivery plan will be established with early community consultation to share extension and refurbishment proposals and expected delivery timescales.

An update was also provided on the innovative EnerPHit retrofit of St Sophia’s Primary, which has been under construction since January 2024. It is expected that the contractor will be fully complete by June and that the children and young people will return to their school in August 2025.

This will be the first EnerPHit certified school in the UK and is acting as one of the pathfinder for the Scottish Government’s Net Zero Carbon Public Sector Building standard. It has also been followed closely by Scottish Futures Trust and Zero Waste Scotland.

Councillor Elaine Cowan, Spokesperson for Education, and Children and Young People said: “Over the past 15 years East Ayrshire Council has delivered a £1billion capital programme, which has focused on education, economic growth, housing and roads infrastructure. Since Covid, the world has changed drastically with the cost of living crisis, inflation, borrowing costs and market pressures creating an extremely challenging environment for capital investment.

“It is clear that the schools and large campuses that we have delivered very recently would now be unaffordable for the Council. However, despite these challenges this report sees investment both in our rural communities in Doon Valley and where we see pressures due to population growth in the Annick area. The key moving forward is to ensure that we are delivering Learning Estate projects that are the best possible investment for both the children and young people of East Ayrshire and the wider community.”