Tynwald is to be asked to approve the construction of a new primary school building in the heart of Douglas.
The new Henry Bloom Noble Primary School would be built on a Government-owned site in Westmoreland Road.
The site formed part of the old Noble’s Hospital and became available with the hospital’s relocation to Braddan in 2003.
In 2010, Tynwald granted the Department of Education and Children approval to spend £928,000 demolishing some of the existing buildings and carry out other preparatory works on the site. This has been successfully completed.
Tim Crookall MHK, Minister for Education and Children, will ask the December sitting of Tynwald for the £8.9 million required to build the school.
If Tynwald gives the go-ahead, work would commence in January 2015 and the school would open to pupils at the start of the 2016/17 academic year.
The Henry Bloom Noble Primary School was formed this year when the former Ballacloan Infants’ School and Fairfield Junior School were merged to become a ‘through’ school for five to 11-year-olds in common with other infant and junior schools.
Both the 106-year-old Ballacloan building in Demesne Road, and the 140-year-old Fairfield building, in Tynwald Street, fail to meet modern education standards but their limited footprints mean they can’t be adapted, said the Minister.
Open space for sport and activity – something key to Government policy – is particularly lacking, something the new site would boast, the Minister said.
‘The existing buildings are not suitable for education of future generations of children,’ said the Minister. ‘While they would require costly work to lengthen their lives, they won’t provide the opportunities for future generations that a new, single, school will.
‘The educational benefits aside, the running costs of a new, larger building and grounds would be offset by savings in moving from a split site school in older, much less energy efficient buildings.
‘As well as an investment in our children, this project would provide welcome work to contractors and sub contractors at this time.’
