News
Derelict Perth school to become £3.5m creative exchange hub
News
TURNER & TOWNSEND HIRES TWO NEW
DIRECTORS IN IRELAND
To continue growth in real estate and infrastructure
We have appointed two new directors to help further grow our real estate and infra-
structure businesses in Ireland.
• Cost and commercial management expert Mark Coady joins to further boost services
in Ireland
• Brian Thompson also appointed as director to grow the infrastructure business
• Plans to move our Ireland office from Dublin’s suburbs to city centre this summer to
be closer to clients and partners
A vacant former primary school in Perth city
centre will be transformed into a creative hub in a
project spearheaded by Perth and Kinross Council.
The £3.5 million regeneration project will see the
derelict St John’s Primary School be transformed
into Creative Exchange Perth, a home for art-
ists, creative industries, business incubation and
community education. The redesigned building
will house vibrant, connected workspaces and art
studios, meeting rooms, a gallery and a café over
three floors. The former school playground will be
brought back into productive use as a community
garden.
Upon completion Creative Exchange Perth will
provide space for 24 artists, 12 creative businesses
and generate 20 FTE jobs during construction and
operation.
The venture is a partnership project led by Perth
and Kinross Council in close partnership with
WASPS (Scotland’s largest provider of creative stu-
dios space). Key stakeholders Perth College UHI,
Elevator (Business Gateway current contract pro-
vider in Tayside), Perth Contemporary Arts Trust
(PCAT), and Perth Visual Arts Forum (PVAF) are
also guiding the project The building is located on
Stormont Street and has lain vacant since 2011.
Built in 1928 it is a typical traditional red brick
school with 2350 square metres of gross floor area
to be repurposed.
The redevelopment will see former classrooms
partitioned into studios which artists will be able to
stamp with their own brand and identity. A pri-
vately funded Innovation Lab will be housed in the
facility, nurturing culture across the project and the
wider region. The hub will support business incu-
bation and acceleration for around 35 businesses in
the creative industries, including more knowledge
intensive areas such as digital technologies and
computer software.
Mark Coady, an accomplished commercial advisor with more
than 20 years’ experience in the construction industry both in
Ireland and overseas, will be primarily responsible for providing
cost and commercial management services.
Based in our Dublin office, he will lead the team, driving and
safeguarding clients’ commercial interests from start to finish,
and growing the Irish business by drawing on our existing local
and global client base.
Mark has experience in managing all aspects of building pro-
jects, specialising in cost and commercial management from
initial feasibility to on-going advice, working with all forms of
contract for both infrastructure and building projects.
The second senior appointment, Brian Thompson, has
been hired as a director to further establish our presence
in the Irish infrastructure market, building on the consul-
tancy’s success with Dublin Airport, Metro North and both
Irish Water and Northern Ireland Water.
Starting as an engineer with Rolls Royce, he most recently
headed up Unipart’s consulting practice for manufacturing,
heavy industry and construction clients for five years. He
has worked on some of the UK’s most high-profile pro-
grammes such as Hinkley Point C and Crossrail on both the
client and supply chain side.