THE first phase of work on the long-awaited new school campus for Ardrossan is set to finally start at the end of next month.
North Ayrshire Council (NAC) has confirmed that the contract for remediation work on the site on Ardrossan's North Shore has now been handed out.
A £3m contract for the work has been awarded to Sanctus Ltd - who the council says have worked on numerous brownfield and infrastructure programmes across the UK.
The vast site is central to North Ayrshire Council’s £170m regeneration plans for Ardrossan.
The North Shore site (top right) will be the location for the new Ardrossan Coastal Quarter, including the new Community Campus.
As well as the new school - which will be home to Winton Primary and its early years facility, and to Ardrossan Academy - the site will also include sports pitches, a coastal path and up to 150 houses.
The new campus will also house a leisure pool and library.
Detailed designs were unveiled in May for the new campus, which currently has a planned opening date of 2026.
READ MORE: Take a look at Ardrossan Campus plans as detailed designs revealed
Building work was due to start this year, after the site had been remediated, for an opening date in 2025 - but that was pushed back after a tendering exercise for enabling works at the site initially failed to secure a contractor.
Now, the contract has been taken up by Sanctus Ltd, who, the council says, will begin preparatory works towards the end of August, with a view to beginning the remediation works from mid-September.
This remediation work has long been considered necessary due to the 'toxic' land at the North Shore - which was formerly home to the Shell oil refinery.
North Ayrshire Council says the site will no longer be of a toxic nature once remediation work has been carried out.
They say Sanctus will follow a detailed plan drawn up by the council and environmental consultants EnviroCentre, and that the remedial works will be licensed by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency.
The remediation work is expected to last for almost a year, and will incorporate a range of environmental control measures, which will ensure the land is ready to build on next year.
The remediation works incorporate treatment of soil and groundwater to meet specific target criteria.
The remediation works will meet the highest standard according to UK Government environmental guidelines.
This means they will ensure that the land is fit for residential use with gardens – which is the strictest criteria laid out within these guidelines.
In addition, it incorporates stringent criteria for addressing risk of pollution to the water environment.
Councillor Tony Gurney, NAC's cabinet member for green environment and economy, said: “This is a very important moment in our huge regeneration plans for this key strategic site.
“We are delighted to confirm that we have appointed Sanctus Ltd to carry out this work and we look forward to working with them over the coming months.
“While we know that the site has a long legacy of industrial use, a portion of the site was remediated to residential (with garden) standards in 2011.
“We are very much taking a 'belt and braces' approach on the site as public safety is our absolute priority and will not be compromised in any way.”
Site investigation works have previously been undertaken in 2019, 2020 and 2022.
The rest of the site has been assessed using robust measures to ensure it would be suitable for a residential use, including gardens.
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