Old Wick High School building sold – new owner talks of plans
Register for free to read more of the latest local news. It's easy and will only take a moment.
The new owner of the redundant high school buildings in Wick talked about his recent purchase and his plans for the complex of buildings on West Banks Avenue.
Matt Dear, who originally comes from Enfield in north London, runs Cashpoint Auctions from another former school building – South Primary School – which he purchased after it closed in 2016.
"We had the offer accepted over a year ago but the council needed to do tests on the building so it dragged on until they finally got it sorted," he said.
Matt says that although he has not made a public announcement about his purchase there are a lot of local people who knew about it anyway. He told the paper about the trials and tribulations ahead as he gets to work on fixing the many issues there are with the old buildings which have been repeatedly targeted by vandals over the last few years.
Matt said he had experience in the building trade and had previously refurbished houses for resale when he lived in London. Speaking on Tuesday afternoon, he told the paper: "We spent the last few weeks clearing all the gutters and all the flat roofs to make it watertight. We put fences up at the back and put security cameras up. Today, we met with an architect who started drawing plans up and we're looking at what would be best suited to use it for. It's looking like it'll be partly residential and partly commercial."
Wick High School was founded in 1910 and closed in 2017 when pupils moved to the new £48.5 million community campus nearby. The local authority had faced criticism from Wick's community council two years ago for the way it "abandoned" the former school, with the complex of boarded-up buildings then on the market for roughly the price of a one-bedroom flat in the town. Highland Council said there had been issues with getting the necessary ground reports for the buildings and this held up the sale. A spokesperson for the local authority confirmed that the sale finally went through on November 25 last year.
Matt said he intends to still run his auction business from the former South Primary School building but may use part of his recent purchase as a storage facility for auctioned items. The area covered by these buildings is enormous and runs to around 3-5 acres which includes ground from the former sports hall, the C-listed dressed stone section at the front as well as four 1960s teaching blocks and several single-storey classrooms.
"We'll only be doing a step at a time. It would potentially cost millions of pounds to do it all from the start. We're discussing with the architect the best way to use it and thinking about what would be most acceptable with the council, the listed building people and also the local people. We obviously don't want to change the front of it – it's a beautiful building and needs to be kept and looked after."
Matt says there is potential for residential use and this could involve using part for a house and other parts could be turned into holiday accommodation for NC500 tourists. "There is a car park at the side which would be good for that too," he added.
"There's a tech block at the front which could be rented to someone for use as a workshop or studio. It's the same for the other buildings at the back and there is parking and access that shouldn't cause any issues with the local residents."
Years of vandalism, which included youngsters smashing windows and accessing the interior, have taken their toll on the buildings, however. "It's been badly vandalised and most of the windows inside have been smashed as well as lots of furniture as well. Fittings inside have been ripped out too.
"There's a lot of stuff the council has left there like desks and chairs, cookers and books. The library was intact when we viewed it last year but when we looked again this year it had been completely trashed with all the stands of books pushed over."
Matt wants to reassure local residents that he will be "respectful" to them with his plans for the old school and even though he is looking to make a viable business he will maintain the original façade and take on board the opinions of people living close by.
"Before having shops, my dad and my brother had a building company and we renovated shops and other properties. Since we moved up here we've bought houses, renovated them and sold them on."
Matt and his wife Sharon have been living in Caithness for around 13 years and formerly ran their business from Dempster Street in Wick and then Saltoun Street near the harbour. Cashpoint Auctions and Sales offers regular auctions of antiques, collectibles, furniture, tools and general household goods. They also have an extensive catalogue of gold and silver jewellery, deal with house clearances and specialise in the efficient removal and transportation of heavy items along with providing safe and secure storage facilities as well.
