New community space on former Gourock school site
WORK is underway to transform a former Gourock school site into a new community greenspace.
The first phase of improvement works at the old St Ninian’s Primary plot will start from today, Monday 7 April 2025, when contractors will move in and get set up.
Currently inaccessible and uninviting, this area of vacant and derelict land on Staffa Street next to the current St Ninian’s Primary will be transformed into a welcoming greenspace for the local community.
The project is being managed by Green Action Trust in partnership with Inverclyde Council.
Surveys and ground investigations were undertaken to find out about the condition of the site and how to make it safe and usable for the local community.
Works in this first phase, lasting approximately 10 weeks, will include:
- Earthworks to create site levels, making the site accessible and easy to move across
- Shaping of new wetland areas to help manage surface water in the south-east of the site
- Reprofiling of existing soil mounds to create accessible varied levels for play
- Installation of a soil cover system (0.15 m clean subsoil and 0.15 m clean topsoil) to overlay on top of the crushed material from the former school
The site will then be seeded and a fence will be erected around the remediated mineshaft as a visual marker of the site’s heritage.
A section of fencing along Kirn Drive will be temporarily removed to enable site access for larger vehicles.
Traffic management will be in place when required.
Councillor Michael McCormick, Inverclyde Council’s convener of environment and regeneration, said: “This site is right at the heart of a vibrant community right next to St Ninian’s Primary, Coppermine Community Centre, and surrounded by housing, with the Gourock Park and St Columba’s High also close by so it’s the perfect location to create a greenspace for the area.
“The greenspace will encourage outdoor learning, support wider community activities, and give local people somewhere they can escape to and reconnect with nature.
“It fits in perfectly with the council’s net zero ambitions and ongoing promotion and development of biodiversity.”
Once the first phase of works is completed and the seeding is established, the site will be accessible and safe to use for the local community.
There will be space for recreation and social activities, local scout groups will be able to use the site for outdoor activities and pupils from St Ninian’s Primary will be able to explore the outdoor world safely beyond their playground.
The defined wetland area will begin to manage surface water, potentially connecting to an outlet in future phases, and create interesting habitats.
This first phase of work will allow for future stages to take place more easily.
A masterplan concept design has been prepared for the site, in consultation with the local community, and will help guide future phases subject to funding.
The site will grow with the community.
Izzie Curnock, Development Officer, Green Action Trust, said: “We see so much vacant and derelict land with untapped potential lying unused across Scotland.
“It’s been rewarding working on this project, being able to turn this site from an eyesore into a welcoming greenspace for the local community.”
The St Ninian’s greenspace has had a varied history: field until the late 1800s, part of a rifle range alongside copper open cast extraction operations until the early 1900s, and in 1965 it was turned into a space for urban recreation.
From 1975 to 2017, St Ninian’s Primary stood on the site until it was demolished and relocated into a new £10 million campus on the site immediately beside the old building as part of Inverclyde Council’s unprecedented schools modenisation programme to renew or refurbish every school and early learning centre.
A former copper mine shaft, since remediated, is located to the centre-south of the site.
A local legend also talks of a sea monster that came ashore in Gourock on the Clyde during World War Two and was buried under the playing fields of the former St Ninian’s.
There are plans to develop some artwork in collaboration with school pupils to go up on this fencing at a later stage to share the site’s story.