Cardinal helps mark school completion

A CEREMONY marking the completion of a new £16 million primary school in Craigmillar was taking place today.

Cardinal Keith O'Brien and Edinburgh City Council's education leader Councillor Marilyne MacLaren were invited to lay the final stone of the development today.

The new campus brings together St Francis and the non-denominational Niddrie Mill primary schools and will have a joint roll of around 700 children.

It forms part of the massive £180m regeneration of Craigmillar being carried out by Parc, which will eventually see 3200 homes, new schools, a library and a remodelled district centre built in Craigmillar and Niddrie.

The scheme is estimated to take 15 years to complete, although the first homes in the new development have already been snapped up.

The new primary schools campus will be at the heart of the new housing development at Wauchope Square, which forms the first phase of the regeneration.

Councillor Gordon MacKenzie, chair of Parc, was also set to attend today's ceremony, along with the headteachers and pupils from St Francis and Niddrie Mill schools.