Building work has started on the new South West Fife high school, which will replace Inverkeithing high school.

Surrounded by pupils, staff, councillors and project contractors, Fife Council Leader David Ross and Education Cabinet Secretary Jenny Gilruth cut the first sod together, to mark the beginning of the building phase of the project.

Cllr Ross said: "The ceremony is a significant step on the way to having a new high school for South West Fife, to replace the current Inverkeithing High School and I’m pleased that we had some of the young people who will benefit from this new school with us.

"This school will be the latest in the Council’s programme to renew all its secondary schools and marks a total capital investment of £88m from the Council with revenue funding support from Scottish Government.

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"We'll be working with our trusted partners, hub East Central Scotland, contractors BAM and the Scottish Futures Trust to deliver a brand new state of the art high school for the young people of South West Fife.

"It demonstrates the Council’s continued commitment to provide the best learning environment and facilities we can for Fife’s young people and this new school is an exciting opportunity which will benefit learners and community users now and into the future."

The new school will be the next new building to join a long list of schools built as part of the Building Fife's Future programme, which includes the Dunfermline Learning Campus which will open in August this year.

The £88 million school, being built on the former Rosyth Fleet Grounds, will have capacity to accommodate around 1800 pupils, over three floors, with an open see and be seen approach throughout the school, similar to other new schools.

CEO of hub East Central Scotland, Gary Bushnell, described how the building process will follow the Passivhaus principles of low energy use: "Designing and building the school to Passivahus principles ensures that learners will enjoy an environment that is full of natural light and with exceptional comfort standards. The facility will benefit from comfortable even temperatures and a constant supply of fresh air, while energy consumption is optimised to reduce carbon and running costs. This makes a significant contribution to meeting the Council’s net zero carbon ambition."