Project milestone brings school’s education estate into single state-of-the-art building
Staff and pupils at Wester Hailes High School have returned from half term into their brand new school building this week, replacing four separate teaching blocks with a single, modern education facility.
McLaughlin & Harvey was appointed by the Council to deliver the 800 capacity new building, which is designed around a central, bright and open atrium, bringing pupils together while connecting departments and classrooms.
Each floor features a series of breakout and retreat spaces to offer pupils choice on where they want to work, socialise or take time out. Internal spaces have been decorated with warm colours and light woods to create comfortable spaces for learning and coming together.
One of the existing buildings on the site – featuring catering, sports and swimming facilities – has been retained and refurbished. This block will operate as a secure community hub, with easily accessible services for local people while maintaining the safety of users. Edinburgh Leisure reopened its refurbished leisure facilities at the school earlier this month.
The building also includes a range of different flexible, collaborative spaces to support staff, students and the community. Members of the community will be able to see the new facilities first hand at an open evening on Tuesday 27 October between 5pm and 7pm.
The final phase of the school redevelopment project will see the remaining former buildings demolished, to be replaced with outdoor learning spaces, an urban woodland area (creating natural habitat, play spaces and a learning resource) and a community allotment that will provide growing beds, poly tunnels and picnic benches for use by the local community.
Additional landscaping will also improve secure access to the school site from the Union Canal tow path.
As with other recently opened buildings in the Council’s learning estate, the school has been built to Passivhaus standard, minimising energy consumption and reducing the reliance on active heating or cooling systems, ensuring sustainable and eco-friendly construction.
In addition to the Passivhaus design, the new school includes other sustainable features supporting the Council to meet its sustainability commitments. This includes measures to improve the air quality and thermal performance of the building which are vital to achieving Passivhaus certification.
The new school building has been designed in line with the guiding principles of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Strategy and is one of the projects in the second phase of the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Investment Programme, alongside the recently opened Liberton Community Campus.
Children, Education and Families Convener, Councillor James Dalgleish, said:
Opening this new school building is a major landmark moment for pupils, staff and the wider community in Wester Hailes. I’m really impressed with the quality of the spaces, and the building is all set to provide a modern, sustainable learning environment designed to support young people for generations to come.
This investment is about more than just education. We’ve created a valuable community asset, bringing together learning, sport and support spaces in one accessible location. Through our Living Well Locally approach, we’re creating a hub that will help strengthen and serve the community for many years ahead.
Dougie McCusker, Construction Director at McLaughlin & Harvey, said:
It’s fantastic to see pupils and staff enjoying the new building. Having been designed and constructed to Passivhaus standards, the facility futureproofs the school’s estate for generations to come.
Operationally, we faced the challenge of building the new facility while the school was still open and in close proximity to the construction works, however, we were able to ensure disruption was kept to an absolute minimum. The hard work by the whole project team, the designers, consultants and the client was definitely worth it when you see the cutting-edge building in use today.
Further information about the design of the new Wester Hailes High School can be found on the Future Schools Edinburgh website.
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