New schools for South East Queensland’s high growth areas

Partnering with Plenary Group and Delta FM Australia to form the Plenary Schools PPP consortium, BESIX Watpac delivered 10 exemplary new schools for the Queensland Government. The schools were delivered in rapidly growing areas of South East Queensland - Pimpama, Burpengary, Pallara, Deebing Heights (Ripley), Griffin, Bellbird Park, Bellmere, Pumicestone (Caboolture), Springfield and Fernbrooke (Redbank Plains).

Streamlined and optimised
With the goal of completing so many schools in a relatively short time frame, efficiency – without compromising on quality – was our priority. The first nine schools were delivered in two stages and occurred concurrently across multiple sites. With the first stage including key facilities, this allowed schools to open after the first stage was handed over, but while works were underway on stage two. Understanding the need for schools to have access to certain facilities early, we accelerated the construction of the administration building, library and part of the carpark at each school. The early provision of these facilities enabled the Principal to actively pursue enrolments, build teaching and administration support teams as well as plan curriculum well ahead of the upcoming school year. 

For the duration of the project, we maintained the same core central design, project management and administration team. Keeping this group together ensured a streamlined delivery across the program. Site staff also moved on to working on other schools, allowing them to implement any improvements that they had discovered during previous construction processes. As the schools were delivered, we honed our delivery methodology each time. This was most evident with the final school delivered. Works commenced late due to the land not being available. Our learnings from all the previous schools allowed us to complete works in an accelerated single stage on time for the commencement of Term 1, 2019.

Value for money design
As a Queensland Government education project, the schools had to incorporate whole of life principles presenting value for money. This is far more than being cost effective, it is finding the optimum combination of whole of life costs, quality and time. To ensure we met these requirements, our teams implemented various innovations. Bulk earthworks and site preparation pose one of the biggest costs to a school project on a greenfield site. At one school, our biggest challenge was limited site access as well as extreme topography. We thought outside the box to mitigate the risk and stabilise the site by repurposing cleared trees as mulch for velocity dissipating bunds. Our methodology was to continue civil works in a progressive fashion in parallel with the structural works. We also commenced landscaping early to further stabilise the site.

Other value for money initiatives included the careful selection of finishes, electrical, hydraulic and ventilation systems as well as the selection and design of all building components.