Case Study – Currie High School

Currie

Community High School

Kier was appointed by the City of Edinburgh Council to deliver the £65m new Passivhaus Currie Community High School. The new build secondary school will provide 1,000 student places, with three floors of teaching blocks, sports and leisure facilities, a swimming pool, and a café.

Currie Community High School will be one of the first high schools in Scotland to be built to the Passivhaus standard, reducing the building’s total energy usage up to 70% compared to a traditional build school and making it more cost effective to run.

Currie

Community High School

Name: Currie Community High School
Location: Edinburgh
Project Cost: £65M
Opening on: August 2025

Project Team

Client: City of Edinburgh Council
Contractor: Kier Construction
Architect & Designer: Archetype & Wardell Armstrong
Airtightness: Aldas
Structural engineer: Goodson Associates
Passivhaus Certifier: WARM

Construction Overview

The school building is constructed in steel frame, with the swimming pool building built from CLT and Glulam.

Steel frame is prevalent in Scottish school construction. Initial feasibility studies proposed a concrete frame for the teaching and entrance block, and a steel frame to accommodate the large span games halls. However, due to economic pressures, the superstructure was switched to a braced steel frame for all elements, apart from the pool hall, which adopted a CLT and Glulam solution.

Mineral wool insulation insulates the steel frame construction. Brick cladding will feature on the ground floor, with metal cladding at the upper levels.

View Kiers Project Page

Currie Community High School

Passivhaus

The school will be built to Passivhaus standards. Passivhaus is a certified energy efficiency standard, focused on creating buildings that minimise energy consumption, therefore reducing the reliance on active heating or cooling systems, ensuring sustainable and eco-friendly construction. This is in line with The City of Edinburgh Council’s aim to ensure that all new build and refurbishment public building projects are sustainable, as part of their commitment to achieving zero emissions by 2030.

It is the third school to be built in Scotland to Passivhaus standards and expected to use 70% less energy when in operation compared to a traditionally built school. The school has been modelled to withstand predicted changes in climate conditions up to 2080.

Kier has a track record of delivering Passivhaus buildings, which focus on the five principles of insulation, heat controls, airtight construction, heat recovery ventilation and thermal bridge free design.

As well as the Passivhaus design, Kier is implementing numerous other sustainable features into the construction of the new school to help The City of Edinburgh Council meet its sustainability commitments. These will include increased air quality, which will be delivered through controlled mechanical heating & ventilation

View Passivhaus Trust Project Page

Constructing Futures Programme

Kier has opened a construction academy, Constructing Futures, on site at Currie Community High School in Edinburgh, offering industry and employability skills to students.

The ‘Constructing Futures’ partnership, between Kier, the school, Edinburgh City Council, Edinburgh College and local employability partner RUTS, will cover the full academic year and introduce students to the construction industry.

Fifteen fourth-year students from Currie Community High School and Balerno High School will take part in the programme, giving them the industry accreditations needed to begin a career in the industry and employability skills such as CV preparation and interview techniques.

The site-based programme offers the opportunity to learn in a live working environment, while students will also take part in site visits, attend professional talks and demonstrations, and complete a work experience placement.

By the end of the course, they will have achieved a ‘National Progression Award Construction Craft & Technician’ at SCQF Level 4. They will also study for a Health & Safety in a Construction Environment Award and CSCS course.

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