Inverclyde Council’s £78 million schools programme, encompassing two primary and two secondary schools designed by Archial Architects, has reached the halfway mark with the opening of Aileymill and All Saints Primary Schools in Greenock.

Accommodating some 429 pupils, the new Aileymill Primary in the town’s Norfolk Road was formed by the merger of the former Ravenscraig and Earnhill Primary Schools and also includes Aileymill Nursery. The new 495 capacity All Saints Primary School in Blairmore Road, meanwhile, is made up of pupils from the former St Kenneth’s and St Laurence’s Primary Schools and is also home to Blairmore Nursery.

Kevin Cooper, director at Archial Architects, said: “Aileymill and All Saints primaries feature elegant, simple designs with bright, colourful and airy interiors. Both very sustainable buildings, they stand as testament to the quality of school that can be achieved when architects work alongside a client that has a real passion about genuinely investing in quality design within the context of its duty to invest wisely and minimise risk through its procurement process.


“Whilst an important part of the benefit to Inverclyde from the appointment of Archial Architects to deliver the four schools that comprise its schools programme is the fact that it will benefit from economies of scale from the considered use of common components, it is equally important that each of these schools features a unique design solution appropriate for its own particular location.”

The new Aileymill Primary School has a simple roof form, a series of pergolas along the classrooms to control sunlight glare and a wedge-shaped administration and nursery block thrown forward from the colonnade to lend a civic presence to the building and create a practical use as shelter for kids and parents.

All Saints Primary, meanwhile, is built into the side of a hill and features a linear arrangement with a colonnade to the front and a cross-section of classrooms affording penetration of natural daylight and effective ventilation, with pergolas again controlling sun glare.

Inverclyde Council’s schools programme includes the new 950 capacity Clydeview Academy (an amalgamation of Gourock High School and Greenock Academy) on the former St Columba’s High School site in Gourock as well as the 850 capacity Notre Dame High School in Greenock. Both are scheduled for completion in spring 2011.

(GK)