Closing date set for sale of Fife high school campus

A closing date has been set for the sale of the campus, with Shepherd Chartered Surveyors giving interested developers until noon on December 3 to buy the school building and the land.

The company says that the sale of the campus represents a ‘rare opportunity’, as it gives a developer the chance to buy a significant amount of land within St Andrews.

The 15.5 acres site includes the ‘B’ listed Madras College buildings, comprising the 109,764 sq ft school and its 15,672 sq ft sports hall, associated car parking, playing fields and amenity space.

Jonathan Reid, a commercial partner at Shepherd’s, added: “This site has generated much interest and, consequently, we have set a closing date on its sale.

“All interested parties are encouraged to make pre-application enquiries to Fife Council Planning Services and as such we have set the closing date to allow all interested parties the time to conduct this part of their due diligence.”

The Madras College South Street site was acquired by the University of St Andrews as part of the deal for the new school. The Kilrymont campus was not part of the deal, though.

The site is expected to be available for development from August 2021, after the school kids have moved to the new Madras College.

Concerns had been raised in the past that the site could be vandalised should it fail to sell.

Councillor Brian Thomson said that developing the site could be challenging.

“I really hope that the site can be redeveloped as soon as possible, with the recent fire at Viewforth High School’s former building an example of what can happen when such buildings are left vacant,” he said.

“As such, I’d hoped that a closing date could have been set sooner.

“However, in the current economic climate, and with the unfortunate listing of the buildings to contend with, it’s clearly not going to be an easy site to redevelop, and it’s understandable that potential developers will wish to take some time in assessing the risks and putting together schemes for the site.

“My clear preference is for a significant amount of affordable housing to be built on the site, but I recognise that may be challenging due the constraints imposed by the listing of the buildings.”