Work starts on East End Community Campus

Cabinet Secretary for Education and Skills Jenny Gilruth took part in an event to celebrate the start of work at the £100 million East End Community Campus on Wednesday (June 21). 

Pupils joined her to make symbolic footprints in wet concrete to create a mark that will become a feature at the new school. 

The campus has been described “the most important investment in the city’s future” and is set to open its doors in 2025. 

Education Secretary Jenny Gilruth said: “I’d like to thank Dundee City Council for inviting me along to mark this significant moment in the construction of the East End Community Campus project, which will be supported by the Scottish Government through the £2 billion Learning Estate Investment Programme as we work to ensure pupils learn in the best possible environments. 

“I have no doubt that the campus will provide a state of the art learning environment that pupils, staff and the local community can be proud of and I look forward to visiting it once it is complete.” 

The community facility, which will replace the current Braeview Academy and Craigie High School, will house a music and drama centre suitable for pupils from across the city and wider and community use. There will also be a café and library that will be accessible during the day for members of the public and school use.

Sport facilities which include floodlit all weather pitches, a fitness suite and a dance studio in addition to gym and games halls will also be available for use during the day to help create a fully integrated community feel.

City council children and families convener Councillor Stewart Hunter said: “The East End Community Campus will be more than a school, it will be a focus for the whole community and will be accessible and inclusive. This campus will help improve the future prospects of young people while assisting the community to thrive. 

“It is the most important investment in the city’s future and delivery of the campus will allow us to improve educational and community facilities to help tackle significant challenges of poverty. 

“This is a golden opportunity to transform educational and community facilities and replace two outdated buildings with a campus fit for the years ahead. 

“The design of the campus has seen pupils playing an important role on the project board. The campus will provide an inspiring educational environment carefully designed to support learning developments in the longer term.” 

Facilities at the campus will support partnership working with Dundee & Angus College to provide Senior Phase Education curricular experiences for young people with complex additional support needs. 

As a 365 Schools Community Hub, the campus is designed to support education and leisure, combining community sports and activities, advice services, digital inclusion, adult learning, and community development as well as health-related services to integrate care for children and families. 

Dundee City Council is receiving funding for the campus of around £40m from The Learning Estate Investment Programme.

The Learning Estate Investment Programme is jointly funded by Scottish Government and local authorities through the use of an innovative outcomes-based funding model, whereby projects must achieve outcomes in relation to the ongoing good condition of facilities, energy efficiency, digital connectivity, economic growth and embodied carbon.

Stephen Long who leads the Learning Estate team at the Scottish Futures Trust, said: “In managing the ‘outcomes-based’ Learning Estate Investment Programme, our focus is on working with partners to deliver high quality, well maintained, digitally-enabled buildings that achieve ambitious energy saving targets.

“This outcomes-based approach has been fully embraced by Dundee City Council with the East End Campus designed to minimise energy consumption meaning that when it opens its energy bills and carbon emissions are anticipated to be much lower than in previous similar buildings.” 

Robertson Construction Tayside has been appointed to build the new campus.

Elliot Robertson, Chief Executive Officer, Robertson Group, said: “As the first Passivhaus building in its portfolio, East End Community Campus illustrates Dundee City Council’s commitment to its communities, to education attainment and addressing climate change.

“Having been a partner of choice for the Council for several years, we look forward to working with them to deliver this high-quality multi-use facility, that will cater for a centre for music and drama, sports facilities and city-wide education. This new school built to Passivhaus standard, will significantly cut emissions to the built environment, and delivers outstanding levels of energy efficiency, reducing ongoing annual operational energy costs. Throughout the build we will be working with local contractors and suppliers, wherever possible, and seeking to improve employability skills within the community through an on-site skills academy.”

East End Community Campus is being delivered through Procurement Hub Major Projects 2 Framework.

Joanne Hemmings, associate at architectural practice Holmes Miller, said: "To achieve the rigorous Passivhaus standard, we have placed sustainability right at the heart of the design, which will ensure low energy consumption both during the construction phase and throughout the life of the building.

“The campus will be a compact, highly insulated building with low energy hybrid ventilation, substantial solar panels and a heating system that’s powered by air source heat pumps. A new link to a sustainable cycle and pedestrian route, plus several cycle storage facilities, will encourage active travel to and from the campus.

“We’ve really enjoyed collaborating with local partners on this project, which we know will help create positive outcomes for pupils, the environment and the wider community.” 

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