Pupils from Inverkeithing Primary School are to be involved in Kingdom Housing Association’s regeneration project in East Inverkeithing, where the first phase is underway to provide 53 new homes at Fraser Avenue.

The project will deliver employment & training opportunities, along with various community benefits including environmental, arts, community and education initiatives.

The latest education project is the partnership agreement between Inverkeithing Primary, the local school, Campion Homes, the developer partner for Fraser Avenue and Kingdom.

The partnership agreement was signed when representatives of Kingdom and Campion visited the school to discuss the project.

A comprehensive programme of events will be delivered over the next few years including site visits, design workshops, arts projects, health and safety talks and construction and employment sessions.

Caroline Gardiner, head teacher at Inverkeithing Primary, said: “We’re delighted to be working with Kingdom Housing Association and Campion Homes. This is not only a great learning opportunity for our children at Inverkeithing as they discover more about the construction industry but our partnership helps our community spirit grow, allowing the children to take a pride in their community.”

She added: “We recently worked with Kingdom Housing and Barr Demolition on a site safety poster competition that the children loved getting involved with. We’re really looking forward to the next phase of exciting opportunities to work with and learn from the great teams at Kingdom and Campion Homes that will inspire the children and develop their sense of enquiry and ambition.”

Bill Banks, Kingdom’s group chief executive, said: “The visit to the school provided an opportunity to meet some the pupils and it was great to see how enthusiastic the children are about the regeneration project. There was no shortage of questions and they were all very excited about visiting the site in the future to find out what actually happens on a building site.”

Campion Homes is developing the new homes for Kingdom and the first phase of the regeneration project is on site and due for a phased completion beginning in the summer through to December 2018.

Dougie Herd, Campion’s joint managing director, said, “We try to engage with the local primary schools on all our construction sites and this agreement with Inverkeithing Primary school will give us the opportunity to involve the school throughout the life of the project, which is being developed over four phases.”

Dougie added: “There continues to be a skills shortage across the construction sector and getting children involved at an early age provides an opportunity to gain their interest and hopefully some will pursue a trade or profession in the sector when they are older.”

The regeneration project has been possible as an outcome of the development partnership between Kingdom and Fife Council, in which 236 common access flats are being demolished and replaced with 189 new social rented homes, designed to high standards, by 7N Architects, to meet the needs and aspirations of the tenants and local community.

The total project cost, for phase 1 is around £7.9 million and the Scottish Government have provided £4.3m to part fund the first phase of the project, with additional funding programmed for the future phases.