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Hebrides News

New Nicolson Institute is finished on time    31/7/12

The new Nicolson Institute in Stornoway was successfully handed over yesterday paving the way for the facility to open as planned at the start of the new academic year on 16th August .

The main contractor FMP finished the work on time and formally handed the building over to facilities management contractor FES FM.

With a school roll of 1100 pupils, The Nicolson Institute is the largest secondary school in the Western Isles and is located adjacent to the existing site on Springfield Road, Stornoway.

While the old school consisted of several buildings spread over a large, disparate campus, the new school is a single new-build facility providing in excess of 13,500sq.m of floor space.  The new campus also includes the retained C-listed Pentland Building and the B-listed Matheson hall which have been extensively upgraded and refurbished to provide CDT and ICT facilities respectively – this ICT Hub will also provide centralised services to all schools in the Western Isles.

A second phase of works, which will see the demolition of the old school and the construction of dedicated bus and car parking as well as a full size grass pitch will commence in mid August 2012 for completion in January 2013.

The new Nicolson Institute is the fifth of the six schools comprising the £125m Western Isles Schools Project (WISP) to be successfully handed over on time and budget following the earlier completions of Point, Balivanich and West Side Primary Schools as well as the first phase of the Sir E Scott School in Tarbert.

Cllr Norman A MacDonald, Convener of CnES and Chair of Sgoiltean Ùra stated "We are delighted that FMP have maintained their 100% success rate in the delivery of the new schools. All of the schools have been delivered on time and on budget and is a testament their collaborative working methods and demonstrates that even in remote locations such as the Western Isles, joint project delivery and a desire to succeed can deliver real achievements”

Cllr Angus Campbell, Leader of the Comhairle noted "The new Nicolson Institute is the largest single part of the hugely successful new schools programme. I am confident that these new schools will demonstrate that putting quality education in quality buildings will allow us to enhance our tremendous record of the highest educational attainment right across these islands.”

Grant Robinson, Managing Director of FMP stated “We are proud to have contributed to each school and the local communities they serve.  The sheer commitment and effort from the Comhairle and Sgoiltean Ùra generated the energy, foresight and can-do attitude that was infectious for the entire team.  FMP matched this commitment and through collaboration and meticulous planning, focusing on logistics, has delivered each of the six schools to a satisfied Client, enthusiastic teachers and communities that needed and deserved their new facilities”