ReGlasgow

OPTIONS Revealed For Additional Primary School In Central Glasgow

14 October, 2021 | Listed / Historic Buildings, Schools

GLASGOW City Council officials have identified two buildings which could be turned into a primary school for children living in Laurieston, Gorbals and the city centre.

Consultation is set to take place over which of the neighbouring Gorbals premises will be chosen and converted.

A report updating councillors states: “As part of Glasgow’s ambitions to regenerate the Gorbals/Tradeston/Laurieston and Govanhill areas of the city, a significant amount of new housing has been constructed in these neighbourhoods. As a result of this, a number of schools have experienced increasing rolls.

“In addition, the council is embarking on a strategy of re-populating the city centre…and as such, there will be a requirement to provide a bespoke education provision for families wishing to relocate to the southern end of the city centre.”

“It is proposed to open a new primary school to provide a local school. Finding a suitable site for a new establishment however, is challenging owing to the limited availability of land.”

The option preferred by officials is the former Adelphi Terrace Secondary School, above, which was repurposed as office space and is owned by City Property Group Investments,

The two-storey building is composed of two L-shaped blocks with two adjacent car parks.

Current tenants would be relocated and the building remodelled and refurbished to create 14 teaching spaces and various other facilities.

The report states: “This building is already within the wider council portfolio and an internal transfer would be straightforward should the proposal be agreed.”

The second option is the Adelphi Terrace School, Florence Street (originally Rose Street), which was designed by architect Thomas L Watson and opened in 1894. It is in private ownership but the owner is “agreeable in principle to a disposal”.

.Officials state: “With this building having been designed for school use, the large well-lit rooms transfer positively to being part of a 21st century learning environment.

“The council still has many similarly appointed Victorian parish schools still in use across the city as primary schools.”

Twelve teaching spaces plus support accommodation could be provided in the building.

Both options lack space to create a games hall extension but are less than a minute’s walk from the council-owned Gorbals Leisure Centre which comprises a swimming pool, health and fitness suite, multi-purpose games halls, indoor tennis courts and dance studios.

The report explains: “This leisure centre, through careful timetabling, could be used to provide high quality gym and sports space.”

The new primary school would be associated with Bellahouston Academy. Catchment areas for a number of surrounding primary and secondary schools would be altered as part of the plan.

Councillors are being asked to approve that the proposals go out for consultation.

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