Doon Valley Community Campus and St Sophia’s Primary update
At the recent meeting of Cabinet, agreement was reached on a number of key issues relating to the new build Doon Valley Community Campus and the refurbishment of St Sophia’s Primary School.
For Doon Valley Community Campus, the design team will now be instructed to progress to stage two of the design process after Cabinet approved an increase of Council investment of £5m to allow final agreements to be reached with the Scottish Government; bringing the overall budget for the project to £41m.
Cabinet initially agreed budget of £33.5m in March 2021, which had been established by calculating the overall space required by all partners based on detailed data available. This resulted in a total area of 8,490m2. Norr - the architects appointed by the Council, have been working on detailed plans for the facility since May 2021. The space model and accommodation schedule, which is developed in partnership with key stakeholders, works out how the space is shared between partners and this work highlighted the need for a minimum facility area of 10,196m2. This increase in size equated to approximately £5.1m.
Due to the significant issues faced in the construction market and costs being significantly higher than anticipated due to the required size of the facility and unforeseen inflationary increases, a decision was taken to stand down the design team in November 2021. This allowed discussions to continue with the Scottish Government, Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), NHS Ayrshire and Arran and Police Scotland and for agreement to be reached that could offset some or all of the identified funding pressures. Agreement has now been reached with some of the partners however; the project investment remained £5m below the anticipated cost estimate.
The decision taken by Cabinet means the project can now advance to the next stage and detailed plans can be developed for the Community Campus on the site of the current Doon Academy, Dalmellington Primary School and Early Childhood Centre, the Doon Valley Leisure Centre and the site of the existing Dalmellington Area Centre.
Further design development and community engagement will now restart with further detailed investigations being undertaken. An important next step for the development is the required ecological survey, including bat surveys, to be undertaken from June to early September. The bat surveys are timetabled to target different stages of the bat maternity period and will take place from dawn to dusk around the school, the area centre and the old janitor’s house.
For St Sophia’s Primary School, Cabinet took a decision to increase capital borrowing by £0.800m to give a revised budget of £4.4m. By agreeing to meet the shortfall in funding, which was due in part to inflationary costs as well as the innovative nature of the design, a construction tender can now be progressed and the project will be developed to the new EnerPHit building standard. St Sophia’s will be the first EnerPHit certified school in the UK and aims to achieve some of the largest energy reductions of any school renovation to date. It is anticipated that work will start on-site in early 2023.
Councillor Elaine Cowan, Cabinet Spokesperson for Lifelong Learning, Education and Skills and Culture said: “The decisions taken by Cabinet mean that plans can now progress for the Doon Valley Community Campus and St Sophia’s Primary School refurbishment.
“As a Council we are committed to ensuring that our children and young people have access to the best facilities possible to allow them to achieve their full potential. Our successful new build school programme has recently opened one of the most inclusive schools in the country, The Barony Campus and I have no doubt that the new Doon Valley Community Campus will be just as successful and beneficial to our children and young people and to the wider community.
“St Sophia’s is an exciting project and incredibly innovative. It will be the first EnerPHit certified school in the UK and hopes to deliver significant energy reductions by improving the fabric of the building. Both projects will meet the very highest building standards in terms of sustainability and will meet the aims of our Climate Change Strategy.”
Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) has provided an estimated funding contribution of £21.360m for the Doon Valley Community Campus and £3.450m for St Sophia’s Primary School.