Education / Optimism as first plans for new Brae High School unveiled
Contractor could be lined up by end of this month
A CONTRACTOR could be lined up for building a new £42.5 million Brae High School as early as this month.
Construction work would potentially begin in late 2025, with planning permission expected to be sought early next year.
Shetland Islands Council hopes the North Mainland campus would be open by late 2027.
The public was given the first glimpse of Ryder Architecture’s initial plans at a public consultation held at the Brae High School on Tuesday.
A second event will be held in late November, with this week’s consultations with staff, parents and pupils helping to shape the overall design of the new school.
Ryder Architecture’s Chris Malcolm said they wanted the building to benefit everyone from early learning up to senior pupils, as well as the wider community.
“We want to ensure that everyone gets the benefits of some of these spaces,” he said.
“The level of engagement that we get up here is brilliant. We just get so much out of it, we find out a lot of stuff that we didn’t know and about what people want to prioritise.”
One of the key aspects of the first proposals for the new school is about the opportunity to get the most of the outside space around the building.
Malcolm said they were keen to ensure there was a “better use of external space”.
“We want to make sure that everyone has the chance to move around in secure areas – that was really, really important.
“We also want people to have direct access to outside sheltered areas.”
He said they hoped to have a contractor to work on the project by the end of this month, paving the way for work to potentially get underway next year – subject to planning permission and full approval from councillors.
The preferred location for the new Brae High School is on the site of the current grass pitch, used by Delting FC, at the back of the existing school.
Shetland Islands Council schools executive manager Shona Thompson said Delting and its players had been very co-operative about the move, with plans to reinstate a pitch at the current school site once its replacement is built.
And she said the hope was for that pitch to be all-weather – which would allow it to be used for several sports.
Thompson said Tuesday’s consultation marked an important milestone for the project, with planning permission expected to be sought in early 2025.
She said it had taken a year to get to this point, adding: “I was starting to think, ‘is it going to happen?’”
The Scottish Government has already committed to providing half of the funding, though this will come over a 25-year period.
In January SIC approved an outline business case for the Brae campus, with an estimated cost of approximately £42.5 million, subject to the approval of a full business case at a later date.
Education and families chairman Davie Sandison and vice chair Catherine Hughson were also in attendance at Tuesday’s afternoon’s consultation event in Brae.
Sandison said they had “good ideas and an excellent location” so far.
He said they wanted to show people that “consultation means consultation” – and to take on board the ideas they bring forward.
“We’ve had a lot of things from out young ones, which is great.
“They’ve got more particular ideas about what they want to see in a new school.”
Hughson agreed, saying it was “really important to give people a voice” on the project.
An online version of the consultation event can be found here.
Another consultation meeting is due to be held on Tuesday 26 November.
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