Dundee City Council’s on-going commitment to boost its schools estate and improve the sustainability of its buildings are among key features of the latest £382million capital programme.
Covering the next five years the plan makes £65m of provision for the new East End Community Campus for Braeview and Craigie High schools, after a successful bid for funding from the Scottish Government for partnered support.
A Project Board has already been established, with work progressing towards the design of the new low carbon facility. With a proposed opening date of August 2025, current market forecasts estimate the total cost of the scheme to be in the region of £67m.
In addition, £16m has been added to the Capital Plan for the development of a new primary school at the Western Gateway and £4.2m, fully funded by Perth & Kinross Council, for the development of an extension to the south side of Harris Academy.
Stewart Hunter convener of Dundee City Council’s children and families service committee said: “With the money identified in this Capital Plan for a new East End Campus, secondary school buildings in parts of the city where there are significant challenges with poverty will be carefully designed to support learning in the future and help prepare pupils for the challenges of life after school.
“This is a bold and ambitious plan to transform for the future in what I am sure will be an exciting educational environment at a community campus where the education of pupils will benefit from advantages of scale that the current schools cannot offer.
“The further investment in the school estate across other parts of the city in this plan follow a long-term programme of school building improvements that has been going on in every part of Dundee for a number of years.”
In addition, provision in the plan reflects the council’s commitment to implementing measures that improve the carbon footprint of the city.
For all new builds/refurbishment programmes, the council ensures that the design of the building considers energy efficiencies/carbon reduction measures, and the costs of these measures are included within the overall cost of the project.
The new plan notes that potential future funding could become available from a number of sources including Scottish National Investment Bank and Green New Deal that will help the council to focus on decarbonising heat and transport which in turn supports Scotland’s transition to a net zero economy.
John Alexander, convener of the policy and resources committee said: “The hundreds of millions of pounds identified in the Capital Plan that the council invests in construction and maintenance schemes across the city provides employment and other economic benefits for our citizens.
“The latest version of plan helps to lay the foundations to make Dundee a smarter, fairer and more sustainable place for everyone.
“People in all of our communities will feel the benefit of this massive investment in many different ways, be it through new schools, better leisure facilities or through the jobs and wealth that the plan sustains.”
Investment in buildings and infrastructure that support leisure and cultural facilities in the city is also highlighted as part of the new plan. As well as a £7m allocation for investment in facilities at the Dundee Ice Arena, £3.5m has also been earmarked for refurbishment and upgrade works at the DCA.
The capital plan 2022-27 will be discussed at a meeting of the policy and resources committee on Monday (January 24).
Dundee City Council
Dundee draws skilled workers from a 60-minute catchment population of 640,000 and has a local population of over 140,000. The availability of a large pool of highly skilled labour is a key feature in the Dundee economy. Flexibility in the labour force is currently more prevalent in Dundee than in Scotland as a whole. All forms of labour market flexibility - part-time, temporary employment, self-employment and shift work - are widely operational within the city. Labour force stability in the city is excellent, enabling companies to plan with confidence. Labour turnover levels are less than 5% and absenteeism averages 2%.
