Edinburgh's Liberton High School to be rebuilt eight years after Keane Wallis-Bennett killed by collapsing wall

An Edinburgh high school is set to be demolished and rebuilt with a modern ‘community campus’, eight years after a pupil was killed by a collapsing wall.

City of Edinburgh Council granted planning permission for the replacement of Liberton High School on Wednesday, which will have capacity for 1,200 pupils.

Construction is due to begin in May this year with the new school planned to open in 2025.

There have been growing calls to rebuild the school since a 12-year-old pupil, Keane Wallis-Bennett, was killed by a collapsing changing room wall in 2014.

The existing building, which dates back to the 1950s, will be bulldozed to make way for the new development, which will include a GP surgery and a multi-use pitch, with the existing sports block being retained along with the tennis and volleyball courts.

Plans for the three-storey building say that it will consist of a variety of “inspirational and inclusive” spaces for learning, and that classrooms, studios, workshops and science labs will connect and work with shared collaborative areas and breakout spaces.

There will also be outdoor learning spaces and a grassed amphitheatre.

A key part of the new school will be the “community campus” features as it will include non-educational facilities such as a café, library and flexible workspaces.

Joan Griffiths, the council’s education convener, said the school would provide “inspirational places for learning for the next generation of young people.”

Councillor Griffiths said: “The new school campuses we’re planning are innovatively and sustainably designed so they are inspirational places for learning for the next generation of young people creating a vibrant and thriving learning environment.

“The Liberton community campus is a really exciting project which provides an amazing opportunity to create, as part of an inclusive net zero-carbon city, a community lifelong learning and sports hub to replace the existing school.

“This means public services can be co-located with links to active travel networks, green infrastructure and public transport networks. This community hub vision for the building to be ‘more than a school’ aligns with our 20-minute neighbourhood strategy – to localise and co-locate services, making them more accessible for communities and to improve the experiences and outcomes for everyone.

“This is all part of the council’s plan to support the well-being of everyone and end poverty and isolation in Edinburgh.”