LES NICOLLES VINERY is set to be cleared to make way for two new schools. The Education Department is proposing to build a new secondary and a special secondary on the 22-acre site.

Work is already under way to remove material inside the greenhouses using Community Environments Projects Scheme labour.

But the department will now ask the States to approve the £840,000 clearance of the site, including two seven-acre greenhouses.

‘The States decided back in February 2003 that Les Nicolles Vinery would be the right site for these new schools,’ said Education minister Martin Ozanne.

‘The site was handed over to us by the Board of Administration on 1 January and immediately we took steps to make the site safe. Now this policy letter is asking for States approval to begin the removal of the structures and the preparation of the site for construction.’

If the States accepts the proposals, work is expected to start next month and take between six and nine months to complete.

First the greenhouses, small buildings, sheds, oil and water tanks, boilers and flues will be removed.

A substantial quantity of fill material will then have to be brought in to help raise the site levels to provide suitably-draining sports pitches and outdoor play areas.

‘The work will be carried out through a careful programme to ensure that drainage in the wider area is not affected by the new facilities,’ said Deputy Ozanne.

‘I can assure people living in the areas that we are taking on board their concerns about drainage.

‘We will also continue to work on traffic proposals for the site and when these have been developed, we will be informing the local community.’

Deputy Ozanne was confident that this phase of the project would be approved and be delivered on time and within budget.

‘The Policy Council has approved the proposals, which have been drawn up to cover all eventualities. There were glasshouses on the site previously so when we begin to remove the existing structures, we may find that lower down there are old boiler pits or old walls but we have incorporated these eventualities into our plans and funding allocation,’ he said.

Since the Board of Administration handed the site over, work has been going on to make it safe, including the clearance of materials ahead of the main demolition works.

Growbags, dead roses, wiring and irrigation systems have been removed. States Works is managing the project and is providing additional labour to oversee the CEPS workers and to use specialist equipment such as compactors and angle grinders.

‘Using CEPS workers means that we have a workforce for free while also giving opportunities to the long-term unemployed,’ said States Works project manager Nigel Dorey.

States Works has issued tenders on behalf of the Education Department for the main demolition works.

‘Once we enter the demolition phase, the contractor will take over the project, under States Works supervision. We have had a good response from local companies who have expressed an interest in carrying out the clearance and demolition work.’

Education will have to ask for further States approval to start construction work.

It hoped that the schools would be open for the September 2007 term.