Foundations laid for school science block

Published on 24/02/2006 11:55

A CITY school was today set to mark the laying of foundations for a £4.2 million science block.

Students from Edinburgh Academy, joined by former pupil and chief executive of the King's Fund Niall Dickson, are to bury a time capsule in the building as part of the ceremony.

Pupils Chris Allen, Donald Inwood and Gavin Duncan won a competition to come up with the best photograph to depict the school to go in the capsule.

The two-storey building, due to open in September 2006, will boast a dramatic glass main entrance, nine laboratories, with associated preparation areas and a 172-seat auditorium.

The new science block will be called the James Clerk Maxwell Centre, named after the former Edinburgh Academy pupil who became one of the world's greatest scientists. Maxwell, who was admired by Einstein and is internationally acclaimed as the father of modern physics, gave the world's first demonstration of colour photography.