A milestone has been reached with the first bricks being laid at a £1 billion development located on the outskirts of Perth.
The Bertha Park project will see 3,000 homes being built over a 30-year period, along with a primary school, shops, restaurants, medical services and leisure and community facilities on the site off the Inveralmond Roundabout.
It’s been estimated that the whole scheme will create around 450 construction jobs at the 333 hectare site.
Work has already started on Bertha Park High School, which is scheduled to open in August 2019.
The first phase of building will see 1,000 homes built and bricklayer Peter McAninch had the honour of laying the first bricks at the site on Monday.
Innes Smith, chief executive of developers Springfield, described the occasion as a “milestone” for Bertha Park.
“Once the foundations are poured and the first blocks are down it doesn’t take long for timber kits to be up and before we know it, the streets will start to take shape,” he said.
“Infrastructure work began on the Bertha Park village in September last year. Work has started on the homes overlooking the pond in the first phase, which is already proving popular.
“Over half of the homes released for sale have already been snapped up.”
Meanwhile, Bertha Park High School will be the first brand new purpose-built secondary school to be constructed in Scotland in decades. It will cater for around 1,100 pupils with a range of sports facilities available to the children.
These will include a synthetic grass pitch and multi-use games area. A primary school will also be built within the grounds at a later date.
In December last year, Deputy First Minister John Swinney cut the turf to signal the beginning of work at the site of Bertha Park High School.
Phase one of the housing development will also feature allotments which will be available to residents living at Bertha Park and will be run by the community.
