Work on a £7 million school rebuild project in Inverclyde is now complete.

The scheme was carried out at St Patrick's Primary in Greenock.

The original building was to be refurbished as part of the council's £270m schools estate programme. However, the cost of building a new school at the same site could be around £100,000 less than a refurbishment due to Government funding; £3.4m from the Scotland's Schools for the Future programme managed by the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT).

Elsewhere, a £4.4m refurbishment scheme has been completed at Kilmacolm Primary. The council is also pressing ahead with plans to build a new £9m building for St Ninian's on the former blaes gravel pitches at the current school site.


Further projects under development include the £5.1m refurbishment of Moorfoot Primary in Gourock and the £3.8 million refurbishment of Lady Alice Primary in Greenock.

In addition, a new £2.5 million early years facility to replace the existing Kelly Street Children's Centre and Nursery in Greenock is also being planned.

Gemma Boggs, Schools Programme Director at the SFT, said: "I am delighted to see another Scotland's Schools for the Future school open. St Patricks Primary School is an inspiring building from which pupils and teachers alike will benefit from a first class learning environment.

"Inspired by our Reference Primary School, Inverclyde Council is now reaping the benefits of the ground-breaking and adaptable design which was created to provide councils with a cost-effective and flexible design which is better suited for modern ways of teaching and learning."

(LM/MH)