Robertson’s £29m St Peter’s school upgrade: design and delivery notes for engineers
Reviewed by Joe Ashwell
First reported on The Construction Index
30 Second Briefing
Aberdeen City Council has reached financial close on a £29m refurbishment and extension of St Peter’s RC School, appointing Robertson Construction as main contractor under hub North Scotland’s North Schools Programme. The JM Architects-designed scheme will convert Old Aberdeen House into 14 classrooms plus a general-purpose, nurture and sensory room, with a new-build extension adding a sports hall, dining hall and staff facilities. The two-stream primary will accommodate up to 434 pupils, with construction completion targeted for winter 2027/28 and opening in early 2028.
Technical Brief
- Robertson Construction acts as single main contractor, simplifying interface risk between refurbishment and new-build elements.
- JM Architects retains design responsibility across both Old Aberdeen House conversion and the new extension.
- Programme milestones include construction completion winter 2027/28 and handover for operation in early 2028.
- Two-stream configuration for 434 pupils drives capacity, circulation and safeguarding requirements in the layout.
- Refurbishment of Old Aberdeen House will require integration of modern services and fire strategy into a legacy structure.
Our Take
The use of hub North Scotland on this £29m St Peter's RC School and Old Aberdeen House scheme aligns with a pattern in our coverage where hub vehicles are increasingly used to standardise risk allocation and procurement for North Scotland public buildings, often shortening pre-construction phases compared with one-off traditional tenders.
Delivering 434-pupil capacity through a two-stream layout by winter 2027/28 to early 2028 suggests Aberdeen is opting to sweat existing urban sites rather than pursue new-build edge-of-city schools, a strategy that typically reduces transport impacts but can tighten construction logistics for contractors like Robertson Construction.
Prepared by collating external sources, AI-assisted tools, and Geomechanics.io’s proprietary mining database, then reviewed for technical accuracy & edited by our geotechnical team.
