Work is due to begin on a new high school in Elgin, Moray Council has announced.

The project is set to go ahead after council planning officers managed to reduce construction costs by £400,000.

Last year, delays which set the scheme back by months meant contractors added £1 million to the projects £28 million price tag.

However, a full council meeting last week revealed weeks of negotiations had managed to reduce the price down to just over £28m.

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The local authority will now contribute £1.6m towards the new Elgin High School project, rather than the previously announced £2m.

With the scheme expected to reach financial close next week, work is set to begin on site soon with a turf-cutting ceremony scheduled for 16 March.

Council convener Allan Wright said: "I'd like to thank the officers for the amount of work they put into getting the costs down, any savings are extremely welcome."

The first phase of the scheme, which includes the creation of the new school and sports block complex, will be completed by next October.

The building will then be handed over that month with the second and third stages finished by June 2018.

The final phase of works involve demolishing the current high school building, laying a 3G pitch, creating car parking areas and landscaping grass pitches.

(LM/MH)