Friday 02 February 2024
The Committee for Education, Sport & Culture has restarted the tender process to find a contractor to demolish the old St Peter Port school building on Les Ozouets.
The works will signal the start of the Post-16 Campus' construction, which was funded following a successful amendment to the Government Work Plan by the Policy & Resources Committee.
Initial discussions have already taken place with potential contractors as part of an identical tender process which was started in October last year. The tender work was halted at that time when the States defunded the works during a previous debate, but can now recommence at pace following the recent decision by the Assembly on funding.
A contractor will also be sourced to clear the building of asbestos right before full demolition commences as part of this tender.
Current timelines project that the tender process should be completed in time to allow demolition to begin in May 2024, with the aim of being completed in August. It is expected that construction of the new Post-16 Campus will then begin shortly thereafter.
Nick Hynes, Director of Education and Senior Responsible Officer for the Transforming Education Programme, said:
"The demolition phase of our project has now been planned for some time and so continuing the work will be a swift process to allow us to get ready to begin the build. We are pleased that the designs for the campus still incorporate some elements of the old St Peter Port school such as the mature sweet chestnut tree; so while the old building will be gone, it's memory will remain as part of the campus. The tree itself, which is well-known and much loved by the community, will sit at the heart of The Guernsey Institute's main building, which is part of the phase one construction plan."
The Princess Royal Centre for the Performing Arts will remain open throughout the work to demolish the old school building and to construct the campus. Plans have been put in place to ensure it can operate as normal with only some alterations needed to keep it safe throughout the process.
