Work set to begin on upgrading Lochgelly South Primary School

Residents of Lochgelly have been notified this week that remediation work is about to start at Lochgelly South Primary School.

The works were agreed last year and the school community was invited to a number of drop-in sessions to hear more about these and to raise any questions. The work should take a year to complete, with the school being accommodated in St Kenneth’s RC Primary School for the duration. Nursery pupils will be hosted at Sunflower Nursery.

Due to a steadily increasing school roll, a new modular unit is to be installed in the Lochgelly South PS grounds, which will house the nursery, providing more classroom spaces within the main school building.

Before the unit can be installed, extensive ground remediation works will be required, during which time the building can't be occupied.

This work will be undertaken in 2 phases:

• Phase 1 (August to December 23) will involve grouting treatment and stabilisation of the ground.
• Phase 2 (Jan to Aug 24) will involve the refurbishment of the building and installation of the new nursery accommodation.

Shelagh McLean , Head of Education and Children's Services, said: "As standard, particularly in former mining areas like Lochgelly, we carried out investigations to see if the site was suitable for a modular unit and to check for historic mine workings. These investigations confirmed that there are historic, shallow, mine workings beneath the school building and grounds. These types of mine workings are likely to result in subsidence damage to the building in the future, unless these works are carried out."

The work will also include some upgrades to the current school building as well as the erection of the new modular unit.

More details and a list of FAQs can be found at www.fife.gov.uk/LochgellySouthPS