Sunbury Primary School
A carefully managed remediation project that stretched the budget to give a heritage school safer grounds and better spaces for staff and students.
At Sunbury Primary School, a project to remediate contaminated soil and upgrade ageing services became much more. By finding a smarter, more cost-effective way to manage the contamination, we freed up budget to replan the school’s heritage administration building and library, improve accessibility and create a new outdoor terrace, delivering more than the school thought was possible.
Completion
October 2023
Services
Architecture, Interior Design
Client
Victorian School Building Authority
Location
Sunbury, VIC
Fixing What Lies Beneath
The Victorian School Building Authority engaged us through a select tender to remediate contaminated soil and upgrade underground services in poor condition. Working with school representatives led by the Principal, we also ran extensive consultation and a needs analysis to understand what else the school needed and how much could be achieved.
Heritage Meets Hazard
Remediation could easily have consumed the whole budget, leaving nothing for the school’s day-to-day needs. The site also carries real heritage, having begun as an industrial school in the 1860s before becoming a primary school a century later. That history needed protecting and showcasing while meeting the needs of a modern school.
Making Every Dollar Count
After comprehensive testing and hazard analysis, we developed alternative methods of dealing with the contaminated soil that managed the hazard safely and cost effectively. The savings were significant, and because the school’s priorities had already been designed and costed, they could go straight into the improvements that mattered most.
Safer, Better and Open to All
Remediated ground made way for a new terrace beside the sports courts. The replanned administration building fixed wheelchair access problems and added offices, and the library was upgraded to meet current needs. With upgraded services, regraded paths and internal ramps, the school is now safer, easier to maintain and accessible to everyone.