A milestone in the laborious rebuild of Dundee’s fire ravaged Morgan Academy is reached today when contractors begin the process of handing the school over to the council’s education department.

Major plant and scaffolding that has been a fixture at the site for much of the past three years should start to be removed from the site today, leaving just snagging works to be completed at the building over the coming weeks.

It is exactly 1220 days since the school was devastated, leaving one of Dundee’s most recognisable buildings a smouldering shell that many believed would lie in ruins.

Those fears proved groundless and within months an £18.5 million plan had been drawn up to resurrect the building and create a flagship new school for the city.

Key to the proposal was the retention of the ornate stone facade and the restoration of the main tower—which provided one of the most dramatic images of the blaze when flames burst through the clock face.

However, the rebuild project has not been about sentimentality and the cramped old Victorian layout has been completely stripped out to make way for a more modern configuration.

The main assembly hall has been turned through 90 degrees and now has a feature glass atrium roof that floods the building with light.

The layout of the building is also much more open plan and the school now has three storeys of classrooms instead of two.

The hand-over of Morgan by contractors Mansell—almost exactly on schedule—allows the council to fit out the building ready for the new school session.

A spokesperson for the authority said the school would be ready in time to welcome pupils next month, although completion works such as painting are expected to continue for some weeks yet.

He said staff would get their first glimpse of their new home on August 16, ahead of a phased return for pupils later that week.

Senior S5 and S6 pupils—many of whom were in junior secondary at the time of the fire—will begin on August 18, with S4 and S3 the following day and the S2 and S1 on August 20.

The spokesperson said, “Both staff and pupils alike will be experiencing a brand new building and it will take them a little time to get their bearings.”