Council vows to meet soaring cost of five new Borders schools

The chief executive of Scottish Borders Council (SBC) has said it will meet an ambitious schools replacement programme despite soaring construction costs.

David Robertson said the local authority had agreed to pay an additional £11m for a new secondary school in Peebles.

It has already met an added £10m for new schools for Earlston and Galashiels.

Mr Robertson said: "We are confident that we'll deliver all the projects."

SBC began work at the first of five planned school replacements in the summer at Earlston.

The new primary's original price tag of £12.3m from last year had increased to £16.6m before builders arrived on site, due to increased construction and borrowing costs.

Just 10 miles away and one month later, a further £5m had to be agreed for work to start on the new £64.5m Galashiels Academy.

This week, councillors were told that the bill for the replacement Peebles High School had gone up from £50m to £61m during tendering for the construction contracts.

With further schools planned in Hawick and Eyemouth over the next three years, the Borders authority is bracing itself for further price hikes.

Mr Robertson said: "The £61m costs for Peebles High School is obviously a significant increase from where we were last year.

"These additional costs for replacing schools will certainly have a knock-on effect, and budgets will have to be enhanced to fund any additional borrowing that we need for our capital plan.

"This administration is firmly committed to delivering all of the new schools, and there will be no impact from these additional costs on any projects that we have already committed to.

"But we will have to look at what we can afford in the future, given the very volatile construction market and increasing costs of replacing assets."

Both Earlston Primary and Galashiels Academy are being replaced due to their age and condition.

A fire in 2019, which caused significant damage, led to the planned replacement for Peebles High being brought forward by about five years.

Despite the additional costs, councillors in the town are delighted that work is now starting.

Tweeddale East member Julie Pirone said: "I'm really pleased that we have agreed the extra budget and we now need to crack on and get the school built.

"We've had too many years of disruption.

"Some of the additional costs are down to changes that were made due to concerns raised during the consultation, but mostly it has been inflation and the increases in construction and supply costs."

Work on the new Eyemouth Primary, with a most recent price tag of £14.7m, is due to begin next year.

The replacement Hawick High, which is currently budgeted at costing £55.6m, is at the design stage with builders due on site in 2026.