City councillors have called for a deserted building in the grounds of Aberdeen Grammar School to be put to use to free up extra space after an outbreak left nearly 20 youngsters self-isolating.
Local councillor Martin Greig said the former school annex on Whitehall Place should be “returned to the Aberdeen Grammar School estate” now its lease agreement with French oil giant Total has expired.
The building, once known as Lycee Francais MLF Total d’Aberdeen, was used to teach the children of French oil and gas workers, but lessons were relocated to Albyn School in 2018 and the building has since lain empty.
The building fell under Aberdeen City Council control when the lease expired on November 1.
It is understood Aberdeen Grammar bosses want access into the building to increase social distancing and to have wider area for teaching.
Mr Grieg said: “The building is now empty and it is vital that the council holds on to this annex because the grammar school is a popular, busy vibrant school and has clear need to expand.
“It would be terrible to think of losing this building and hopefully there are no plans or proposals to put it on the open market and dispose of it – clearly it’s a good prime site and the interests of the school community should come first.
“The school want to extend want to extend into this area, which was originally part of the school anyway, and many schools are suffering from overcrowding.
“It makes perfect logical sense to make use of an adjoining annex – it’s important that it’s brought back in use as a functioning building.”
It was revealed on Wednesday that a pupil at Aberdeen Grammar had tested positive for Covid-19, which has resulted in 17 students having to self-isolate.
A positive case was also discovered at the school in September.
Bill Cormie, councillor for the Rosemount area, said the transfer of the French school building back to Aberdeen Grammar has “should always have been on the cards” since the secondary school is “running at capacity”.
He added: “It has always been the case that the Grammar was keen to take back the ownership of that building.
“It really has to come back to the school because it is part of the school grounds. It would be really difficult to put something else in there other than an educational facility.”
An Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that the building known formerly as the French School is no longer leased to a third party, and officers are currently assessing the options for its future use. A final decision on this has not yet been made.”
