PLANS for Scotland's first Living Building accredited structure have been unveiled by Dollar Academy this week.

Proposals are for a dome-shaped building to serve as the home of the Futures Institute at Dollar Academy (FIDA), providing a pioneering educational programme tackling fundamental challenges.

The academy is aiming for the building to become Scotland's first Living Building Challenge accredited structure, against a rigorous benchmark of sustainability in the built environment.

The accreditation is for self-sufficient regenerative buildings that connect occupants to light, air, food, nature and community, creating a a positive impact on human and natural systems.

FIDA was launched last year to enable young people to work with experts from industry and universities to better understand and design solutions to some of the most complex challenges, such as climate change and poverty.

In a bid to help reduce the attainment gap, it also offers free SQA courses.

Ian Munro, rector at Dollar Academy, said: "Dollar Academy has always promoted the transformative power of education, and this idea is at the very heart of FIDA.

"FIDA's free online provision and in-person workshops have allowed us to further develop our existing bursary provision in a modern and scalable way to children across the country, and beyond.

"The current UK education system has largely been inherited from the 18th century, and aspects of it have not changed since then.

"Recent global events have reminded us how complex the world can be, and it is imperative that we afford our pupils the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills needed to address social and global challenges in an increasingly interconnected world."

FIDA has established a partnership with Scotland's International Environment Centre, Clackmannanshire Council and the University of Stirling, exploring how a sustainable business accelerator could take the ideas generated by young people and turn them into reality, fostering entrepreneurism and empowerment.

The dome-shaped structure has been designed by Grimshaw, an international architecture practice led by chair Andrew Whalley OBE.

Andrew Whalley, a former pupil of the academy, added: "Dollar Academy has a long history of encouraging students to explore the arts which of course fuels the imagination and creative problem solving.

"It's now leading the way with a paradigm shift in learning, to be shared as an open platform resource.

"Such an initiative requires an equally fresh approach to its future centre, with an architecture that will support team working, collaboration and exploring new creative sustainable solutions that will empower and inspire the next generation to tackle the planetary problems we now all face."