Purple and Gold
A New Beginning based on Old Surroundings!
Brian Donohoe, Member of Parliament for Central Ayrshire replies to constituents concerns regarding South Ayrshire Council’s proposals for a new “Troon Academy”.
Thank you for your email correspondence in connection with Marr College. I have taken my time to answer in order to visit both Marr College and other more modern schools to satisfy myself completely that my conclusions are based on sound grounds.
The information that I have with regard to the costs involved is as follows:
Estimated costs for a refurbishment of the existing school/partial rebuild would be in the order of £28-32m (not including the purchase cost of the building and land from the Marr Trust). These estimated costs are from Mott MacDonald supplied at the time of the PPP Outline Business Case being considered.
Whilst I am aware that some people in the Troon community would prefer to keep the Marr College building, the layout of the accommodation is not considered by professionals as suitable for modern teaching and with the Main Building being grade B listed, there will be severe and potentially very expensive limitations on internal and external adaptations.
Having had first hand experience of such renovations (I sat on the Administration Committee in the House of Commons overseeing its renovation) I am very much aware of the ongoing astronomical costs in the maintenance and renovation of ‘listed’ buildings and know that there is also a major factor that inevitably the costs are likely to be far higher than initially estimated. Hence the use of the term 'astronomical' in the article that led to your email to me.
The refurbishment option would also require a pupil decant while the works were underway. This would be needed for a period of at least two years, costing in the region of £1,000,000 pa in rental for hutted classroom accommodation and would be extremely damaging to the education of the pupils affected by this added disruption.
I am confident that the figure of £30m (not including the purchase cost of the land from the Marr Trust) for a complete rebuild on the playing field site is in line with other 'new' build schools recently completed in the Ayrshire area and can be taken as a reliable figure.
However since starting this exercise another factor has to be considered and that is the grants given by the Trust for various reasons, not least the £122,000 given last year to maintain the Marr Educational Centre next to the library and the £250 given to every pupil who goes to university.
Residents in Troon and the surrounding areas have had an opportunity to become involved in discussions on the future of secondary education provision in the area. Local communities have been asked for their views at a series of meetings across the Marr College catchment area which has provided an opportunity to hear further information and ask questions regarding the future of the school. The options which could be considered include refurbishing the Marr College building or providing a new school with modern education, sports and community facilities on a possible location using part of the Marr playing fields on Dundonald Road.
The existing playing field site has an area of 13.25 hectares. The entire site for the new Prestwick Academy (including all-weather pitch, multi-use games area and football pitch) occupies 5.03 hectares. Discussions are ongoing with Sport Scotland on the Dundonald playing field issue in relation to community availability of sports areas in Troon. I believe that the remaining 8.22 hectares may be sufficient along with the new facilities which will be provided with a new school.
As stated at the beginning of the letter I visited Marr College on Friday 4th June and noted that whilst it is a great old building, it requires complete reconfiguration to bring it up to a modern setting. There has already been refurbishment done in the past i.e. two science rooms and two home economics rooms at a cost of £700,000 and I understand the project was fraught with difficulties connected to the schools listing by Historic Scotland.
In conclusion I am still of the opinion that the best option is a 'new build' believing that the other option is unaffordable nor for that matter gives the education that is being offered to pupils elsewhere in Central Ayrshire in a modern setting. However, I will add one caveat and that is I remain doubtful that if my preferred option is given the go-ahead that the Marr Trust would continue to be as benevolent to the town and it's residents, and I would have to be satisfied that the grants given would continue in some other form before being satisfied that the decision is completely sound.
The one thing that is certain is the present situation is untenable and a decision is required sooner rather than later to bring into line the provision of education in the Troon catchment area.
I trust that this clarifies my reasoning on a subject that I believe of fundamental importance to those most affected - the present and future pupils of Marr Collage catchment area.
Yours sincerely
(Signed)
Brian H. Donohoe MP
25th June 2010
Read Allan Mackintosh’s reply Here
If you would like to respond to Brian Donohoe contact him here.