St John Henry Newman College, Tarragindi reveals campus design

An upcoming Catholic school, which expects to open in 2026, has revealed their campus design with new buildings and renovation on existing structures, including 24 parking spaces.

An artist's imagination of the proposed St John Henry Newman College campus. Picture: Ink Duck

An up-and-coming Brisbane Catholic school, which expects to provide classical education from 2026, has revealed its campus designs.

St John Henry Newman College submitted a development application to the Brisbane City Council last Tuesday, August 27.

It proposed a primary school on the St John Fisher Catholic Church site at 17 Messines Ridge Road, Tarragindi.

Town planner Mewing Planning Consultants suggested reusing the existing church hall and chapel and constructing two one-storey buildings.

“The proposal is for a primary school accommodating a maximum of 95 students and eight full-time staff, with the school to be delivered over two development stages,” it noted.

The first stage included refurbishment of part of the existing chapel for school administration and the existing church hall for two classrooms and toilets.

It also proposed to construct a 144 sqm one-storey building accommodating two classrooms, toilets, a covered outdoor learning area and refuse storage area and a 185 sqm outdoor playground area.

An artist's imagination of the proposed St John Henry Newman College campus. Picture: Ink Duck

An artist's imagination of the proposed St John Henry Newman College campus. Picture: Ink Duck

While stage two included a 266 sqm one storey building to accommodate a classroom, a flexible learning area, two withdrawal rooms, toilets and a covered outdoor learning area.

The two stages are estimated to complete in 2026 and 2027 respectively.

“The existing church hall and chapel have been retained in-site, with the proposed new buildings, carparking areas and outdoor playground positioned towards the street frontages and away from the common boundaries with residential uses,” Mewing Planning Consultants said.

“The proposal results in total site cover of only 33 per cent, with the proposed new buildings having a built form, scale and intensity that coherent to dwelling houses located on the adjacent land to the south and west.

“The proposal provides a total landscape or open space allocation of 2893 sqm, with landscape buffers and acoustic fences incorporated to visually screen the proposed built form and outdoor play area and achieve relevant noise assessment criteria to protect adjoining sensitive land uses from noise impacts and to maintain and enhance residential amenity.”

An artist's imagination of the proposed St John Henry Newman College campus. Picture: Ink Duck

An artist's imagination of the proposed St John Henry Newman College campus. Picture: Ink Duck

The plan also included a total of 24 parking spaces on site across two stages, more than twice the Brisbane City Council requirement for a primary school.

Traffic engineer Legend Consultants said in an application document that the school operation hours will overlap with the ongoing Wednesday mass.

But it said the parking provisions are sufficient even under the most conservative scenario in which all before school activities traffic overlaps with the church’s parking needs.

“For stage one, the combined demand for parking is 15 spaces, while 16 spaces are available, leaving one space remaining,” it said.

“In stage two, the total parking demand is 17 spaces with 24 spaces available, resulting in seven spaces remaining.”

Legend Consultants also assessed the capacity and performance of key intersections pre and post-development scenarios using a traffic modelling software.

“Analysis shows that all intersections are working well within its theoretical capacity in 2037 assessment year with proposed development traffic superimposed,” it said.

The application, which has been available online since Friday, August 30, received seven objections in just four days.

A neighbouring resident said in the submission that many neighbours use the area for park-and-ride due to the proximity of Holland Park West station.

“There’s often a constant flow of different vehicles parked in front of my house,” the resident said.

“We can’t handle any more traffic, especially since this side of Pozieres Rd serves as a key route for both northbound and southbound access to the M3.”

Another resident said the traffic condition surrounding the proposed school was a great concern.

“This proposed school would add further traffic,” the resident said.

“This is going to be a nightmare for our neighbourhood.”

Founding principal Kenneth Crowther said the site had been zoned for education and places of worship for at least 50 years.

“The development application submitted to Brisbane City Council aligns to the City Plan and zoning for the site,” he said.

“This was confirmed as part of a pre-lodgement meeting with Brisbane City Council.

“As is the norm with all development, detailed consideration of all the necessary town planning and other practical requirements is being undertaken in relation to the site’s zoning, structures, landscaping, parking and traffic management.

“This DA will have a form that is compatible with the local context, including to provide one storey buildings.

“While the school will always remain relatively small, we are delighted by the positive feedback we have received from the parents of students seeking enrolment.”

The school planned to serve students from preparatory to Year Three in 2026 and will become a full P-12 school with separate Primary and Secondary campuses in the subsequent years.

The development application was under assessment by the Brisbane City Council.