The wraps have come off ambitious plans for a new multi-million-pound secondary school in Perth.
An artist’s impression shows how the 1,100-capacity Bertha Park development could look.
The new Perth and Kinross Council school is part of a £1 billion city expansion being created by award-winning developer Springfield Properties.
Around 3,000 homes are being built on the site and designers of the new secondary school have set aside space in the grounds for a new primary school building, if needed.
Several grass sports fields are planned as part of the £23 million school, as well as an all weather pitch.
Facilities for pupils with additional support needs will also be provided.
The council successfully secured £15.3m of Scottish Government funds for the new school in July 2012. Later that year, the local authority agreed to pay £7.6m towards the scheme out of its own budget.
Originally, a condition of the funding is that the new school must be up and running by the end of March 2018.
However, the opening date was postponed until 2019 after complaints from parents about the original plan to phase in pupils.
Many parents objected to having to move their children mid-way through term and called for the opening to be delayed until after the summer break. Education Scotland had also criticised the timescale, claiming the transition would see the first wave of S1 pupils being forced to change schools twice within the space of a year.
After further negotiations, the Scottish Government agreed to re-phased funding until the next financial year.
A Perth and Kinross Council spokeswoman said: “The School Estate Sub-Committee have received a presentation regarding the first stage of design of the new secondary school planned for Bertha Park.
“The design of the new school uses a simple deep plan approach to make effective use of the space within the building and maximise the ingress of natural light. The stage two design process is now underway.”
Sub-committee convenor Bob Band added: “Plans for the new secondary school at Berth Park are proceeding at a pace.
“The design is at an advanced stage and has taken into account the possible development of a primary school on an adjacent site utilising some of the facilities that will be available on the secondary site.”
The new school has yet to secure planning consent.
