Jackson Street School

Noticed in the Town Crier that there was a "late news" thing saying that Midlothian Council have now decided to demolish Jackson Street school (just as they plan to do with Loanhead Town Hall).




Anyone got any more info on this? It seems to be another of their secret decisions which they seem to love now. I assume they know that not may people in Penicuik like them so they have nothing to lose.

I see they have now applied for a warrant to demolish it....like the way they don't mention Jackson Street so trying to cover it up. After the success of Ladywood being run by the community, the cooncil obviously don't want that to happen again!

09/00495/BWDEM 13 November 2009
Commercial Services, Midlothian Council, 62A Polton Street, Bonnyrigg
Demolish community education centre
at Former Penicuik Community Education Centre, 52 John Street, Penicuik
Estimated Cost £40000

It would be nice to know what is going to happen to the land after the building is knocked down. Hopefully it won't end up as a hole in the ground. If they are going to build something which will benefit the community that will be fine. Otherwise, why could they not have sold it to Lidl? On the other hand I wouldn't be surprised if they sell it to build flats.

I imagine it will end up like the former YMCA, Eastfield and Ladywood sites once it has been demolished - sitting there doing nothing until someone has the money to build something there. We can probably expect some beautiful flats like the new ones in the precinct to appear there one day!

I received this email about Jackson Street:
It is now nearly six months since Penicuik Community Development Trust’s Annual General Meeting mandated us to seek the restoration of Jackson Street School to community use. I am emailing to seek your immediate and urgent help to exert pressure on Midlothian Council to accept our offer to buy and refurbish the building (details and documentation are on our website www.PenicuikCDT.org.uk.)

Attached to this email are two petition forms whose purpose is to delay the implementation of a decision to demolish it for redevelopment. One form you can print so that you and your friends can sign the paper copy. The other is a single person version that you can submit by email. In both cases feel free to forward them to other friends. Please do not sign the petition more than once - the individual copy and group versions are the same petition.

Why are you being asked to sign a petition now?

Over the summer, we developed a comprehensive Plan for Penicuik that was put before the Community Council on October 10th. They agreed to forward it to Midlothian Council as the basis for discussion at a meeting scheduled for November 17th with Director of Strategic Services Ian L Young and the Cabinet Member with this remit, Councillor Russell Imrie. Central to the Plan was the refurbishment of Jackson Street School as a Penicuik Museum and National Heritage Centre of the Papermaking Industry, but also as a home for small start-up businesses, studio workshops and training facilities, a Community Café and other social resources. The front yard would be made into a garden square at one end of an attractive public open space including the Pedestrian Precinct. With a great deal of help from the Community Council, we drew up a formal proposal to buy Jackson Street School from Midlothian Council. This was submitted to the Chief Executive on November 1st and formed much of the basis for our discussions with the Council on November 19th.

At the meeting, the following points were made

1 The Plan for Penicuik is a long term vision of how to improve the viability of community facilities, shops and businesses in Penicuik Town Centre: demolishing Jackson Street School will scupper it for no financial gain.
2 We are not asking for handouts: our proposal is to buy the standing building and its site – the Council would get its capital return.
3 We would not expect recurrent grant from the Council – we propose to operate the Centre as a social enterprise, earning its running costs from users. Penicuik people now have a proven track record for making such ventures work – Ladywood Leisure Centre is a prime example.
4 By occupying the building and effecting emergency roof repairs, we would normalise public safety issues associated with arson and falling slates. This would also protect the structure from further decay and very greatly reduce the Council’s insurance premium.
5 With a safe, occupied building, there is no urgency to spend the £60k for demolition. If our proposals are successful, this would be a net saving to the Council; if not the delay would cause no additional spend.
6 The prestige of Midlothian would be very significantly enhanced if we create a nationally important Papermaking Heritage Centre – Penicuik is its obvious home. Jackson Street School is the only place suitable for housing it in a location that would benefit footfall in the Town Centre and thereby support local shops and businesses .
On November 24th, the Council decided to uphold an earlier decision made in secret to demolish Jackson Street School. Preparation for demolition began three weeks before the November 19th meeting which was evidently not conducted in good faith.
So we call upon your help: please fill in the petition yourself and distribute it widely. Take whatever other action you think fit to stop another part of the Penicuik’s heritage being lost, and with it an imaginative plan to revitalise our town.

If anyone wants to add to the petition then send me a message and I can email you a copy.

Seems all the campaigning was a waste of time as the cooncil have now agreed to demolish it "as soon as possible". The article in this week's Advertiser claims that it has to be knocked down for safety reasons - how come nothing has happened over the past 3 years since it closed down. Penicuik will really look attractive with a gap site between the Post Office and the church!!!

I know someone that does a lot of survey work looking for bats in buildings. He says that even if he finds them it won't stop a building being demolished but he says sometimes work gets held up for quite a while if a building has to come down and hasn't been checked for bats. Wouldn't it be a shame if someone asked the Council if this building had been checked for bats and it hadn't been?
Any volunteers? All it would take is a quick phonecall or email. I am not really in a position to do it.

Story is on the Advertiser website now:

http://www.midlothianadvertiser.co.uk/news/Bid-to-save-Penicuik39s-Jackson.5872800.jp

I wonder what the cooncil will be demolishing next - not much left!

Jackson Street School's official address is 52 John Street which is why that address appears on the Building Warrant application. Nothing sinister there, I'm afraid.
The building was condemned decades ago and has only survived so far on sufferance. It was only ever useful as a temporary home for Community Education (as then was) until space could be found for it elsewhere. Since there is now tons of space in the High School the building is redundant.
Apart from anything else the cost of making it DDA-compliant would be horrendous and the idea that any local community group could find the money to even start on it shows just how far removed from reality some people are.
The ground floor alone is on seven different levels.
Once the economy starts to pick up that is a prime site and the sale of it will more than pay for the major (and very welcome) work that was done on the Town Hall.
The reason for the haste now is that the roof was becoming insecure and creating a danger to users of the neighbouring property, i.e. Sacred Heart Church. It was only a matter of time before somebody was injured or a car was damaged by falling tiles or masonry.
I can't see why anyone thinks it is an asset to Penicuik. It's an eyesore and a major obstacle to what could be a decent development.
Just as that eyesore in the town centre prevented a proper development 30 years ago because the developers reckoned it was easier to give in than fight. And what did we end up with? A stupid shaped supermarket that was never as big as it was meant to be and a building that nobody wanted except to look at.
Note that those who demanded it be kept never did anything to encourage its use.

Looks like work has begun on the old school.

I walked past today and metal panels have been put across the car park. And possible a big skip in place but couldnt see properly. Difficult to walk in slush and be nosy at same time lol.
But i passed a couple of residents of the street chatting and overheard them say the demolition had started.

There is a car in the car park and going by the snow on it its been there a while. Hope the owners dont need to get it out in a hurry.

The cooncil have certainly given themselves the go-ahead for demolition and I suppose they want to get it knocked down ASAP before any pesky Penicuik people have a chance to complain.

Looks like Jackson Street school will soon be gone as there were workmen on the roof this morning remving the slates.
I did not expect any U-turn from the cooncil since they have a habit of carrying on with plans, especially when lots of people oppose them. Wonder how long the site will sit vacant once they have completed demolition???

There is a website with updates (sadly no live webcam) at:

http://www.makers.org.uk/place/penicuikheritage

SamTyler wrote:

I did not expect any U-turn from the cooncil since they have a habit of carrying on with plans, especially when lots of people oppose them. Wonder how long the site will sit vacant once they have completed demolition???

Of course the cooncil's not going to change it's mind! Don't be silly.

Look at it from the Cooncil's point of view. Jackson Street School is a moderately attractive and interesting building. For that reason, it just doesn't fit in with the Cooncil's "vision" of Penicuik. So, obviously, it's got to go.

Quote :

Jackson Street School is a moderately attractive and interesting building.

Aye, right!
Which is the attractive bit and which is the interesting bit, rubbereye?
It's ancient, decrepit, ugly. It's been condemned more than once. It has already started to fall to pieces, shipping bits of itself into the Catholic Church car park.
The roof is shot. It would cost the best part of £1m to get it fit to use. The ground floor is on seven different levels. (Perhaps that's what you mean by interesting?) There is no way of installing a lift to make it Disability Discrimination Act compliant.
It sits in the middle of what is potentially a very attractive (and, yes, valuable) site so lets get rid of something that should have been got rid of decades ago and put our minds to something positive. Oh, I forgot. Penicuik doesn't do positive.
So far nobody has put forward any realistic ideas. Even the "activists" (there's a laugh) couldn't make up their minds what they were going to do with it. Museum? With artefacts from where? Arts Centre? They can't even run the one they've got properly.
No idea of costs; no idea of how to run a bath let alone a building that would have cost them AT LEAST £1.5m before they were even ready to move into it, never mind the ongoing running costs.
While other towns at least make an attempt to look forward, Penicuik can never do anything but look back. When it opens its collective eyes at all.
Every new development anywhere near the town centre over the past 20 years has been delayed by one or other of the usual suspects objecting. The town centre has passed through about four different companies, not because they didn't want to improve the place but because every plan they put forward was "not in keeping" or "won't work" or "not what we want in Penicuik" or "vandalism". Not from the Cooncil, rubbereye, from the local bloody people who seem want us to live in a 18th century village (like New Lanark, perhaps? ) and presumably with 18th century plumbing and 18th century standard of living and 18th century life expectancy.
This is the 21st century, man. Let's enjoy it.

well ah think it wis guid when they puult doon eastfeild scoohl an they gied uz a a bit tae tek our dugs fer a poo an a pee all tae wersels

Well, I guess if it's got to go, then it's got to go and there's not a lot that can be done about it now. Unless of course someone fancies digging tunnels, building tree houses(if there are any trees) or prostating themselves before the great bulldozer that cometh

Anyway, I hope that they don't leave another piece of waste ground to rot for the next umpteen years. Also, if and when they do build something perhaps it could at least be architectually appealing. The building industry still seems to be in the doldrums at the moment so if it is going to be flats/houses, it could be a while yet before anything happens.

There is a train of thought that says that the old school is our heritage, this is part of Penicuik and such should be kept for future generations, but do we need a building that is in a state of disrepair as a financial noose around the neck of whatever organisation took it on? It is nice to keep old buildings, but there does come a time where they have to go especially if they are not in use, therefore not maintained and ultimately very costly to repair, upgrade etc.

Windows mostly out today and slates being taken down off the roof so I don't expect the building to be intact for much longer - hope so as it does not look very attractive at the moment.

Demolition work started today with the section closest to the Post Office knocked down. It really helps to give the impression that you are walking through a battlefield with the trenches in the precinct, empty shops and the wobbly slabs!

More of the building being knocked down this weekend - no great surprise that more work gets done on a Saturday (higher pay no doubt!)

Going....going....gone! The last remaining sections of the building were demolished today (Thursday) so now just clearing up to be done.

a be done bi the milennuim

What happens to all that stone? Does it get recycled and used in some new building or just crushed up to make hardcore?

It could also be used for reclamation of land from the sea. However, I just hope that it is not used simply for landfill.

I am sure that Dalton Demolition will be making lots of money from all the stuff - I saw a roofing company taking away lots of slates so probably quite a lucrative business. I would imagine the large pieces of sandstone are worth a fair bit and the cost of dumping it in landfill would be very expensive nowadays.