Plans have been submitted for a major new school campus in East Ayrshire.

Architectural firm Sheppard Robson has drawn up designs for the 23,000m2 Knockroon Learning and Enterprise Campus.

The facility will be built on a 19.8 hectare site, consolidating five disparate schools into one campus, creating a centre for education for the towns of Cumnock and Auchinleck.

Organised as four linked structures (two two-storey and two three-storey), the building will have three school pavilions and sports centre, The running track will also be retained and upgraded, while public access will be maintained around the site and along the riverside.


Renewable features include photovoltaics positioned on the building's roof, a bio-mass heating system and a district heating network.

Overall, the Campus will house 500 students and 300 staff. Student facilities will include a secondary school (for 1,633 pupils), a primary school (517 pupils), a nursery (240 children), an 80-place supported learning centre and 30 additional places for students with special educational requirements.

Work is scheduled to start on site in summer 2017, with building completion scheduled for the start of 2019.

Rupert Goddard, partner at Sheppard Robson, said: "The designs are a result of extensive consultation with all stakeholders, including five head teachers, staff, pupils at all levels and the local community and stakeholders."

"It is this level of understanding that has allowed us to co-locate these schools, sharing resources amongst different age-groups as well as opening-up these facilities to the public, with an emphasis on creating sporting, enterprise and artistic resources for the community."

(LM/MH)