Demolition crews have started tearing down the former St Andrew’s School in Inverurie.
New images reveal heavy machinery is already halfway through dismantling the school which served generations of children in the town.
Opened in 1955, St Andrew’s was Aberdeenshire’s first school for children with additional support needs (ASN), serving pupils aged 3-18 for over 70 years.
When the school’s 88 youngsters and their teachers moved to the £55 million Inverurie Community Campus in 2020, the St Andrew’s Garden site closed for good.
Locals claim it has been a vandalism hotspot since falling empty.
In late 2023, council chiefs earmarked it for demolition in a £50,000 project.
Aberdeenshire Council plan to sell the site, with various options for the former school touted, from a new park, to a retail or housing development.
Aberdeenshire’s first ASN school
In the mid-1950s, the Evening Express covered the opening of what was, at the time, Aberdeenshire’s only school for ASN children.
When plans to close it emerged in 2016, more than 3,000 parents backed an effort to save it.
Eight years after the school’s closure was first announced, demolition crews have moved in.
Images taken today show a yellow digger tearing apart the framework amid piles of rubble.
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How long will demolition of St Andrews School in Inverurie last?
It seems neighbouring residents were taken aback when workers arrived to demolish the derelict school.
One mum told the P&J: “I got back home and I could hear all the slates tumbling down. I didn’t realise the demolition was scheduled for this week.”
The same resident claimed that vandals “wouldn’t leave it alone” in the years after it shut, until the windows were boarded up.
The public contract for the two-month project was awarded to Dem-Master.
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