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Irish eyes smile on Daliburgh school 31/3/11
A new primary school for Daliburgh in South Uist is set to go-
Work is expected to start almost immediately as Western Isles Council is automatically awarding the project to Irish consortium FMP, which secured the construction contract under an optional clause in the Western Isles Schools Project (WISP) contract.
FMP’s original high price was unaffordable and even though it was recently slashed by £1 million it was still too expensive.
The Scottish Government previously gave a £2.1 million grant which was being topped up the council’s own cash but it isn’t enough to pay the builders.
A plea for more money from the Scottish Government bore a degree of success but and the hard pressed council is being forced to raid its own coffers to fund the difference.
Tonight (thurs) the full council is widely expected to ratify the funding and award the scheme to FMP.
The cost for the modern-
FMP had originally planned to start demolishing the current secondary wing and toilet block at Daliburgh this month but this will be delayed until the end of April..
Pupils would be taught in the remaining rooms with portacabins used as temporary classes with the building works hoped to be completed in 2012.
The initial enabling phase was timed to strip out asbestos during the Easter school holiday, when the buildings are empty.
After the asbestos is removed, the existing S1 and S2 buildings will be knocked down over six weeks.