was sought in December 1981, to allow closure of Low Moss once Shotts Prison had been refurbished. Strathkelvin District Council agreed to that extension in January 1982. A further year was requested in February 1988, but in July the council objected to that request and sought a public local inquiry, after which the council approved a limited 3-year period, as opposed to the originally proposed 5 years, in June 1989. In June 1992 the council received a further renewal request, and in November it agreed to the continued use of the site as a prison until November 2002. Another 10 year renewal request was lodged in June 2002, and because the council objected in August 2002, the request was referred to the Scottish Executive for a decision, with a further 10-year extension granted in June 2003. Accommodation The prison was of wooden, single-storey construction, and the accommodation comprised 11 Nissen hut dormitory-style units linked by internal corridors and Davidson House, a temporary, pre-fabricated building. The corridors linking the dormitories were narrow and did not permit good access. Some investment took place, with the partial refurbishment of seven dormitories in the mid-1980s. The accommodation was communal and offered little privacy. It housed approximately 300 prisoners at any one time. Closure and reconstruction In early January 2007, it was announced that the Scottish Executive had overruled the initial objection by East Dunbartonshire Council for the prison to be totally rebuilt to modern standards under a private finance initiative. However a review by the New Scottish Government later that year called for the original plans to be re-evaluated. As a result, the prison is the first new build publicly operated prison to be opened in Scotland for almost 30 years. The subsequent tendering process, resulted in Carillion being selected as contractor for the new publicly funded prison in May 2009. The replacement prison on completion was to be three times the size of the old prison, capable of accommodating 700 inmates with 300 staff in a medium-security facility. Construction on the new prison began in February 2010 for completion in early 2012. Whilst the old prison was operated for low-category prisoners serving sentences of less than 36 months the SPS said that the new HMP Low Moss, in common with all new prisons, was built to take the highest category of prisoner as standard. The prison opened its doors in March 2012 and