Bellshill Schools (Gillespie, Kidd and Coia)

Job files, images and drawings related to projects

Gillespie, Kidd & Coia were commissioned to build three schools at the Orbiston, Bellshill site. They designed two primary schools, Sacred Heart a Roman Catholic school and Lawmuir which was Protestant. In addition to the two primary schools they also designed a Roman Catholic junior secondary school, St Saviour's. The secondary school shared the site with the primary school which was erected a few years earlier and also served the Orbiston area of Bellshill. The three schools were planned in accordance with the requirements of the Scottish Education Department.

St Saviour's Junior Secondary School accommodated 240 pupils in four parts; general teaching, practical teaching & gymnasium units planned around the central core of the assembly/dining hall, staff rooms and kitchen. A covered way linked the two Catholic schools. The layout of the grounds provided a common playground and playing fields for the two schools.

Similar to the other schools designed by GKC, the Bellshill schools utilised top lighting and light shelves within the classrooms. The buildings were based on the multi-storey frame building which was used in a number of other GKC schools.

The material has been arranged using original Gillespie Kidd and Coia project reference codes. There are three schools included in this project. In some cases job files, images and drawings/plans include two or three of the schools. All job files, images and drawings/plans have been labelled according to the school/s they pertain to.

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Catalogued by Tracy Wilkinson, GKC Project Archivist

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