Project Outline
The Moray Council wishes to replace Elgin Academy and Keith Primary with new schools, to be built through a public private
partnership. This will be carried out using the Non-Profit Distributing model as proposed by the Scottish Government and will
be procured through European Commission procurement rules using competitive dialogue.
Elgin Academy is a six year secondary school with a current (September 2007) roll of 987 pupils. It is proposed to replace this school
with a new school with enhanced community facilities, on the current site at Morriston Drive, Elgin. The existing school would
then be demolished and playing fields constructed.
Keith Primary School is a primary school currently operating on split sites a short distance apart. The current roll is 346 pupils, and it is
proposed to replace the current buildings with a single school incorporating nursery provision on the current north site,
adjacent to Keith Grammar School, and subsequently demolish the existing school buildings and former dining hall on the site.
The current south site, with its existing building, will be retained for separate disposal by the Council.
Latest News
Project Update – 9 July 2010
Work got under way today on a replacement for Keith Primary School.
The first turf was cut by Councillor Jeff Hamilton, chairman of Moray Council’s children and young people’s services committee.
Among those who witnessed the ceremony were sisters Alice (8) and Sarah Green (6) and their cousin Dean Cruickshank (9), who are pupils at the school and whose great-grandfather, Alex Cruickshank, built the existing school in the late 1930s.
Mr Cruickshank was a local master mason who won the construction contract for the school. He died in 1970.
Councillor Hamilton said: “This is a historic day for Keith and one which marks the start of work on a new primary school that will be among the most modern in the north-east of Scotland.
“It represents a major investment in education and in the lives of local children who I’m sure are already looking forward to moving into their new school.”
The contract for the new school, which is being funded through a non-profit distributing (NPD) model, has gone to IPP (Moray Schools) Ltd and will be built by Aberdeen-based Stewart Milne Construction.
The contract also includes a replacement for Elgin Academy, where work began two weeks ago.
Work on the new Keith Primary is scheduled for completion in October next year.
The existing school operates on two sites a short distance apart and they will be replaced by a single school incorporating nursery provision on the site of the current senior primary school adjacent to Keith Grammar School.
Care will be taken to ensure that there is as little disruption as possible to day-to-day school life during the construction period.
Work will be carried out in phases and at each stage construction work will be kept separate from the school by site fencing and hoarding.
Temporary classrooms will be erected during the summer holidays and a school travel plan has been developed to ensure children get to and from school safely while construction is in progress.
The new primary school accommodation has been designed to allow flexibility in use of space and comprises classrooms for nursery through to P7. The building will also feature an assembly/games hall, kitchen and dining hall and space for community use.
Outside, there will be provision for safe play for children at all stages, external ‘classroom’ areas and an all-weather games area.
The project will also see a full-size floodlit all-weather pitch and two grass pitches which will be used by Keith Grammar School and the wider community.
The new school will be innovative, environmentally friendly and sustainable and will be fully accessible to those with mobility problems.
Active Travel Zone
At Keith, the contractors will be putting up temporary classrooms over the summer, and the children will be taught in these until the new school is ready. The school has also helped to develop a School Travel Plan while the building work is going on, so that children can get to school safely. All construction traffic will be going to and from the site from Drum Road, and an Active Travel Zone is being set up to cover School Road, Green Court, and the lower part of Drum Road. Parents who drive their children to school are being encouraged not to pick up or drop off children in that zone, but to park further away so that children can walk part of the way to school. Tesco has kindly agreed to set aside an area in their car park for this purpose, and pupils at the primary school will get a card to collect points when they walk all or part of the way to school, and there will be prizes when they have collected enough points.
The Active Travel Zone area is shown on the Travel Smarter Reward Card that will be given to pupils after the holiday. 
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