Duncanrig High School

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Duncanrig Secondary School, now known as Duncanrig High School, was designed in 1953 by Basil Spence as part of the development of the new town of East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The school was most likely named after the farm Duncanrig in that area.

Although Spence was to design in the modern Brutalist mould the school he designed at East Kilbride was far from that, being entirely playful and theatrical. The use of colour and varied materials were used to achieve his aim. A short film has been produced by the students of the school who participated in a study of the school itself with the assistance of the RCAHMS (Royal Commission on Ancient & Historical Monuments of Scotland).

A feature of the school building was a large mural by William Crosbie representing the history of the Clyde. This was located at the main entrance, visible through a floor to roofline, two storey glass wall. This distinctive feature, much commented on by students and staff, was, like the school itself, allowed to deteriorate over the years.

The building was demolished in 2007. The most accessible record of the school is now at the Sir Basil Spence Archive Project. Another building has been erected on the site of the school playing fields, doubtless this is called progress. The architect has not been not been identified as yet.

A current teacher hopes that the roof of the newer building does not leak, unlike its predecessor. Doubtless, some maintenance will be required to see that, in the future, such hope is not misplaced, as it was in the past.

However, it seems that teachers are not always pleased with their new buildings when they are the result of a PPP (public private partnership). Neither it seems are Architecture & Design Scotland, the Royal Institute of British Architects and the Royal Fine Arts Commission for Scotland at least according to a report by Holmhills Wood Community Park Action Group (HWCAG). The penchant for PPP's to prefer greenfield sites, to use costing which ignores real life-time costs, not to mention higher cost of capital than government borrowings and flawed modelling of discounted cash flows seems to contribute to their success with politicians.

Duncanrig was one of seventeen PPP's proposed in south Lanarkshire. At least one Scottish council guaranteed that the same councillors who recommeded a PPP would not approve the planning. This was not the case in South Lanarkshire (HWCAG: p57)

The features of the latest erection remain to be specified. Similarly, the reasons for not refurbishing the building designed by Basil Spence remain to be specified.

[edit] References

Sir Basil Spence Archive Project
Scotland Land Court. The Scots Law Times. “an action against Mrs Frances Anne Pollok owner of the farm Duncanrig”
Miles Glendinning, Ranald MacInnes, Aonghus MacKechnie (1996). A History of Scottish Architecture: From the Renaissance to the Present Day. Edinburgh University Press, see p433. ISBN 0748607412. “[a] theatrical air informed some of Spence's architectural commissions in those days such as Duncanrig Secondary School”
Brutalist Architecture in KL
Holmhills Wood Community Park Action Group (HWCAG) (2005). PPP School Modernisation Projects and the Loss of Open Space in Scotland.
Kenneth Davidson (2003) Are public-private partnerships worth the risk?.