[5] Built as a "higher grade" school, the building was designed to accommodate over 1200 pupils in 40 classrooms.

Additional wings, dining halls, glazed roofs and mezzanine floors were added later as the school struggled for space.

[7] In June 2018, the school moved to the new building at 111 Viewforth in Fountainbridge on the site of a demolished brewery.

According to reports "an elderly lady seized the opportunity and made her way to the front of the audience, producing a small bag of flour from her muff and, as she threw it on Mr McKinnon Wood, she asked 'Why do you torture women?'".

[15] The new school building was opened by the minister for Higher and Further Education and Science, Shirley-Anne Somerville[17] accompanied by Councillor Adam McVey, leader of the City of Edinburgh Council[18] Three volumes of the Boroughmuir High School Magazine, including the Roll of Honour names of pupils who served and died in WW1, were digitised as part of the University of Oxford "lest we forget" project in 2018.