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Portobello High School to move on site this autumn

February 4 2014

Portobello High School to move on site this autumn
Edinburgh City Council is to press ahead with a redevelopment of Portobello High School this September following months of wrangling over the contentious use of common good land at Portobello Park.

The £41.5m scheme has been designed by JM Architects and parsons Brinkerhoff structural engineers and will open its doors to pupils in August 2016.

Accommodating 1,400 pupils the school will provide a four lane, 25m pool and present its public face to Milton Road across a landscaped square. These elevations will be finished in cast concrete blocks and acrylic render.

Taking the form of a series of interconnecting blocks the school takes advantage of differences in level to hide a lower floor beneath the level of Milton Road, keeping the building to the same height as neighbouring villas.

Following completion the existing Portobello High will be demolished, with the majority of the site converted to open space – minus 0.6 hectares which will be allocated to St John’s RC Primary.
A typical classroom in the new school
A typical classroom in the new school
The new school will house an expanded library
The new school will house an expanded library

The school is laid out as a village street with a central spine and subject areas branching off to north and south
The school is laid out as a village street with a central spine and subject areas branching off to north and south

4 Comments

Kenny
#1 Posted by Kenny on 4 Feb 2014 at 14:22 PM
About time!! Fingers crossed it opens then
Eric J Archibald
#2 Posted by Eric J Archibald on 5 Feb 2014 at 06:20 AM
This seems a good move, although I presume the golf course will have to go, which seems a shame.
I would like to know what the open space created by the demolishing of the old High School will be actually used for. Will St. John's be getting it's playing fields back?
Lee Kindness
#3 Posted by Lee Kindness on 5 Feb 2014 at 15:53 PM
Eric - golf course stays...
archie
#4 Posted by archie on 6 Feb 2014 at 17:44 PM
There appears to be some wishful thinking by the author. There are still many issues to be resolved before the contract can be awarded so the council need to be open and transparent with the local community. They have let us down many times before.

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