Home
News
November 2011
Fountainbridge brewery site to host new school

Fountainbridge brewery site to host new school

November 10 2011

Brownfield land in the heart of Edinburgh city centre, subject to a masterplan by Allan Murray Architects, is to be partially turned over to a new school after a council bid for the land was accepted by Lloyds Banking Group.

Bruce Munro, project coordinator of the Boroughmuir High School project, said: “The Fountainbridge site is at the bottom of Viewforth, only 500m from our existing school building… however any bid submitted would be conditional on the full Council approving the acquisition at its meeting on 24 November.”

The plans will be put out to consultation alongside an alternative proposal from Malcolm Fraser for refurbishment of the existing school – although this option is not being recommended.

3 Comments

#1 Posted by richard heggie on 10 Nov 2011 at 20:03 PM

Reckon there's a long way to go before any new school is built.
Like Malcolm, I think this building should be refurbished for continued school use. It's an anchor use within the Bruntsfield area, supporting local shops and businesses and on the main public transport corridor serving the catchment. "Only 500 metres from our existing school", which makes it around 650 metres from the main bus stops. Bring on the four wheel drives....
Presumably the Lloyds Group sees the Council as a more reliable bet than commercial bidders in current economic conditions. Given public finance issues (and related doubts over the value of the school building for high cost conversion to flats) that may be wishful thinking.
Malcolm's proposals :
http://www.malcolmfraser.co.uk/media/Boroughmuir_High_School(2.2Mb).pdf