News / MSP’s college maintenance concerns downplayed
SHETLAND College says its main Lerwick campus is in a “good state of repair” after concerns were raised by an MSP over the amount of maintenance work anticipated to take place on its buildings in the coming years.
Highlands and Islands list MSP Jamie Halcro Johnston earlier this week pointed to a report published last year which stated that around £900,000 worth of repairs and maintenance are expected in the coming years.
An Audit Scotland report published earlier this month revealed that the colleges across the country are facing an estimated £360 million repairs bill.
Halcro Johnston’s worries have been downplayed locally, with Shetland College UHI’s joint operations manager Rory Gillies confirming that the organisation has a funded maintenance programme in place.
The report into the condition of college estates across Scotland showed that a range of repair work is expected at Shetland College’s campus at Gremista in the not too distant future.
This included an estimated spend of over £140,000 on roof work across the campus, as well as £74,000 on internal decoration and £43,000 on floor finishes in the college’s south block.
The north and south block were constructed in the mid 1990s and were extended in 2014.
Most of the anticipated repair work is deemed low priority and expected in a five-year window, although £36,321 worth of work was said to be required to be carried out “immediately or within one year”.
The Train Shetland block at Gremista, meanwhile, was constructed in 1995 and extended in 2014. The report says the “older part of the building is anticipated to require significant overhauls and refurbishment in coming years including roofs, (£40k), wall render (£11k), window overhauls (£7k).”
The surveys of the college buildings were carried out between March and July last year.
Learning centres at Islesburgh in Lerwick, Baltasound Junior High School, Brae High School and Whalsay School all have an estimated £40,165 bill over the next five years, but that is based on a benchmark due to limited information.
The majority of the college’s buildings were placed in category B when it came to their current condition, with A the top grading and D the lowest.
Gillies said that the college estates are managed by Shetland Islands Council.
“Our campus in Lerwick was recently extended and upgraded which means it is in a generally good state of repair,” he said.
“The learning centres are currently based in schools and other Shetland Islands Council properties, and these are also part of the council’s planned maintenance programme.”
SIC estate operations manager Carl Symons added: “Shetland Islands Council have a comprehensive programme of planned maintenance in place, including regular inspections and surveys for all buildings at Shetland College and the learning centres at schools.
“All buildings are considered fit for purpose, with the majority assessed as condition rating B (satisfactory) and A (good) when evaluated using Scottish Government’s core facts methodology.”
Halcro Johnston criticised the Scottish Government after learning of the amount of work anticipated to be carried out on college’s nationwide.
“The SNP’s lack of maintenance on college buildings has been laid bare by Audit Scotland and its report is a further damning indictment of how the SNP has continued to squeeze the college sector,” he added.
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