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March 27, 2025
Council funding helping to fill empty town centre premises in Renfrewshire
March 27, 2025The new Paisley Grammar School Community Campus is ‘making incredible progress’ as the latest update on its construction is issued.
The new school is being built near Renfrew Road and has become a striking new addition to the town’s skyline, with the three-story building now taking shape.
When it opens in August 2026, the new school will be a state-of-the-art facility, including outdoor sports pitches and facilities available for the wider community.
The £85.5m project is being delivered by Renfrewshire Council, supported by funding from the Scottish Government’s Learning Estate Improvement Programme.
It is being built within the site of a wider development which will transform transport links in the north of Paisley and help create safer access to the school.
Initial groundworks started in March last year and the main construction got under way in June. The structure is now in place and external insulation is now being added. Work will continue until next summer to finish the building, create the outdoor areas, and fit out the inside ahead of opening.
Renfrewshire’s education convener Cllr Rodden recently visited – and she feels the new building bodes well for the rest of Renfrewshire, with further ambitious investment in the area’s schools planned over the coming years.
Cllr Rodden said: “I was delighted to see the incredible progress made since work started on the new Paisley Grammar School Community Campus one year ago – and the building is fast becoming a new landmark within the town.
“When it opens, this will be a modern state-of-the-art facility which will open up new opportunities for learning and teaching not possible within the current building.
“And it won’t just be a great building for pupils and school staff – the new sporting and other facilities will be a wonderful resource for the wider community too.
“Through our Learning Estate Strategy we are planning the biggest-ever investment in Renfrewshire’s schools – and the quality of the new Paisley Grammar sets a standard we hope to follow with other schools elsewhere in the area in the years ahead.”
When setting their annual budget earlier this year, councillors created the ability to borrow up to £170m to fund the next phase of investment in Renfrewshire’s schools.
The Learning Estate Strategy will guide decisions over where that investment will be prioritised – with 14 schools now identified as priorities, for which detailed options will now be drawn up.
Cllr Rodden was joined by Paisley Grammar School head teacher Janice Levens and members of the ‘site squad’ – Niamh, Grace, Surbjeet and Adam – four S3 and S4 pupils who have been helping tell the story of the new-build to their fellow pupils.
When asked the differences they’d seen since their last visit, they mentioned ‘the roof is built’, ‘you can see the classrooms’ and ‘there’s much more structure’.
And when asked which bits of the building they were most looking forward to, answers included ‘the football pitches’, ‘the music rooms’, and ‘the outdoor areas’.
Once complete the new Paisley Grammar School Community Campus will include:
- outdoor facilities including two full-size sports pitches (one 3G and one grass), plus outdoor learning and social spaces
- modern facilities for practical subjects including a 300-seat theatre, fitness suite, dance studio, makers space, teaching kitchens, drama studio and music suites
- a range of ways to learn and teach, with open spaces for group work as well as traditional classrooms
- community facilities such as meeting rooms and flexible learning spaces
- high standards for energy-efficiency and building performance.
The location of the building also allows a close partnership with the neighbouring West College Scotland, with potential to expand the range of subjects on offer to pupils. The school will have capacity for 1,380 pupils, well above the current school roll of just over 1,000.
Safe access to the new school will be delivered through ongoing work by the council to improve transport links in the north of the town and better connect Paisley town centre and the Advanced Manufacturing Innovation District Scotland (AMIDS) at Glasgow Airport. That will include:
- a new bridge over the White Cart linking Inchinnan Road with Harbour Road, and a new east-west road linking the bridge with Renfrew Road, from which the school will be accessed
- new safe walking and cycling routes, including a pedestrian and cycle underpass under Renfrew Road built on the route of a former rail track, linking the new school with the south of Gallowhill and the east of the town.
The council is currently proactively marketing the vacant former Chivas administration building and the current Paisley Grammar School site to find new owners and uses.
