DETAILED designs for the £47m Port Glasgow shared campus are today unveiled for the first time.

Inverclyde Council has taken the wraps off exciting plans for the £47 million shared campus, which will provide a spectacular state-of-the-art home for pupils from Port Glasgow High and St Stephen’s High, plus a showpiece new additional support needs school.

The ambitious project is a first for the area and also represents the single biggest capital investment Inverclyde Council has ever embarked upon.

Architects have produced these stunning designs which show how the shared campus is going to look - and full consultation will now take place to agree the final blueprint.

Council leader Stephen McCabe told the Tele he believes the shared campus is a project to be proud of.

He added: “It is very exciting to have arrived at this stage of the process.

“After the consultation to help the architects finalise the designs, we can then go out to tender.

“At circa £47m, this is the single biggest capital project Inverclyde Council has undertaken and it’s great to see we’re getting there with it.” When plans for a shared campus were first discussed a few years ago, the issue provoked some debate - but Mr McCabe is confident people can now see the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and the benefits it will bring. He said: “Although there may have been some scepticism at the start I don’t detect that any more.

“Everyone connected with the working group which has been set up to take things forward is very excited.

“I think people recognise the two schools coming together at a shared campus can be a good thing for everyone in the community.” At the end of the 2010-11 school year, Port Glasgow High pupils will vacate their school - then move later that summer to a temporary shared campus currently being prepared on the existing St Stephen’s site.

Bulldozers will flatten the Port High buildings, which have stood since 1972, making way for construction of the showpiece new campus which is expected to open in August 2013.

As well as providing Port Glasgow High and St Stephen’s staff and students with top-class educational facilities, the shared campus is set to be at the heart of the community, with its leisure facilities open to the public for use outside school hours.

The busy enterprise centre currently located at St Stephen’s will also transfer across to the new campus.

Mr McCabe said: “At night times and at weekends the campus is going to be a real community hub, with a whole host of facilities available.

“We don’t have a sports centre in Port Glasgow at the moment but the campus is going to have sports accommodation which will be first-class.” The last piece of the shared-campus jigsaw was put in place earlier this year, when full funding for the ASN school was finalised. It will replace the ageing Glenburn and Lilybank facilities and become a key part of the shared campus.

The images exclusively revealed in today’s Tele show its layout on the site and the two striking main wings which form the centrepiece of the campus.

They symbolise open arms, while beyond them are two full-size fieldturf football pitches and a multi-use games area.

The blueprint shows how a new roundabout will be developed on Kilmacolm Road to access a place which will become Port Glasgow’s new ‘learning village’.