Inside Brisbane schools set for multimillion-dollar redevelopments
Mega redevelopments, projects catering for growth and schools looking for flashy upgrades – see the Brisbane schools spending hundreds of millions on facelifts.
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State-of-the-art sports centres, flashy science and technology buildings and mega extensions to cater for rapid growth – Brisbane schools are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to keep up with growth and lure even more students.
With most schools around the city experiencing a boost in enrolments in recent years, more pressure than ever has been placed on their facilities.
As a result many schools have begun upgrades, with some spending upwards of $60 million.
From elite colleges, to state schools and schools for children with special needs, we take a look at what has been going on.
See some of the significant developments at Brisbane schools below.
VILLANOVA COLLEGE, COORPAROO
Coorparoo’s Villanova College recently unveiled more details for a mega 10-year masterplan to revamp the school’s campus.
The Catholic college in Brisbane’s inner-east lodged a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID) with the State Government to upgrade and extend its existing facilities at 34 Sixth Ave.
MIDs are an alternative to development applications which bypass Council.
The masterplan features two stages and also includes the closure of the Seventh Ave Road Reserve, as well as the demolition of the Clare Lodge and the current Uniform Shop House.
Stage one will feature the construction of a multipurpose hall and STEM building to be completed within five years.
The large multipurpose hall will be built for sports, arts and other gatherings and will also feature a gym while the STEM building will see the addition of 12 classrooms as well as space for three tech workshops.
A new uniform shop, plaza and foyer entrance as well as terrace seating and amenities such as change rooms will also be part of the first stage.
Stage two of the masterplan, which is expected to be complete within five to 10 years, includes a new single-storey building to accommodate cafe and canteen as well as a learning institute on top of the refurbishment of Mendel Hall.
The lodging of the MID comes three years after the construction of a $15 million three-level learning centre, which is the home to the Junior School (Years 5 and 6) and Year 12 students occupying the top floor.
LORETO COLLEGE, COORPAROO
Loreto College in Coorparoo applied to the State Government in May to move a pre-1946 house, demolish one of its buildings and upgrade another as it prepares for an influx of students.
Construction work would start in term three this year if approved by the State Government.
Last September, it was revealed Loreto had applied to the Non-State Schools Accreditation Board to add Year 5 in 2025 and Year 6 in 2026.
The college, Brisbane’s first Catholic boarding school, celebrates its centenary in 2028 and is listed as a local heritage place.
It involved moving the house and the partial demolition of the Mother Gonzaga Barry Centre, built in 1977 and the most modern building on the campus.
The Spanish Mission-style Casket building, which dates to 1931 and was built after a former student gave the Loreto nuns a prize-winning Golden Casket ticket, would be renovated and updated.
A new three-level building would be constructed on the Dale St side of the precinct to cater for an extra 220 students and 14 staff, expected from 2025.
Set back from the street, it would include classrooms, administration, collaborative spaces and a senior studies centre.
There would be a new entrance plaza off Dale St and on-street passenger drop-off zone.
The masterplan, lodged last month as a Ministerial Infrastructure Designation, bypasses normal Council planning laws.
The construction management plan said some work outside approved hours might be needed and that while the Dale St footpath would be kept open, gantry tunnels or traffic control might be needed.
By 2026 the school was expected to have a total of 1150 students and 123 staff.
LOURDES HILL COLLEGE, HAWTHORNE
One of Brisbane’s most prestigious girls schools has unveiled plans for a massive three-stage redevelopment of their campus in the city’s southeast.
Lourdes Hill College, at 86 Hawthorne Rd in Hawthorne, has lodged an application to demolish, rebuild and extend several of its buildings to enhance the education experience for its students and teachers.
The proposal is broken up into three stages, comprising parts of the college’s master plan, aiming to “address key long term campus challenges and to present a safer, more liveable, welcoming and accessible campus”.
The first stage of the project includes the demolition of the existing G Block to build a new four-storey building featuring six learning areas and a home economics space as well as a connection to the existing E Block.
A portion of H Block and E Block buildings will also be demolished as part of the initial stage.
The second stage will include an extension of the good Samaritan Centre (‘GSC’) with disability access to the performance stage as well as all-access amenities added on top of a new pedestrian entry from Virginia Ave.
Works on the GSC will also include new reception/waiting room spaces, meeting spaces, a lunch room, student foyer and junior foyers, a nurses room, quiet rooms, a sick room and a uniform shop.
The third stage of the school’s development includes extending and refurbishing J Block to improve teaching spaces and facilitate the introduction of Year 5 and 6 classes.
The extension will create eight learning areas in J Block.
The college has projected student enrolments will decrease from 1277 to 1208 before 2030 and full-time staff will decrease from 155 to 144.
The fourth stage of the redevelopment will be the subject of a future development application for the northern staff carparking area adjoining Virginia Ave.
ST LAURENCE’S COLLEGE, SOUTH BRISBANE
St Laurence’s College in South Brisbane lodged an application with the State Government for a massive, six-stage demolition and renewal program potentially including a new aquatic centre, classrooms and centre of excellence.
Stage one of the application, which was submitted in August last year, involved 26,000 sqm of classrooms, library, music rehearsal area, a home base for seniors and a centre of excellence.
No demolition was needed for stage one, which was expected to be finished sometime before 2026, depending on approvals and other factors.
A masterplan has been lodged with the Planning Department under the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation (MID) process, which bypasses Council rules.
The MID was approved by the State Government in December, 2022.
The masterplan included demolition of an existing library, cafe, staff carparking area and removal of demountables.
Other minor demolition would take place over the following five stages.
The proposed buildings would be up to six levels, but landscaped to minimise their visual impact on neighbours.
Stage two would begin in five years, or possibly as late as 2032, and replace the library with about 26,000 sqm of staff areas and a cafe. The strings demountable would need to be removed.
Stage three, an extension of a 29,000 sqm learning centre, 400-seat auditorium, drama rooms and school shop, would also be built somewhere between 2027 and 2032.
An aquatic centre was proposed, with a possible 50m pool, kiosk, function deck and change/pump rooms, but was slated for well down the track.
Work would not start on that stage until an unknown time after the Olympics in 2032.
A five-level classroom building with change rooms, equipment store and linking bridge was envisioned for some point after the Games, as was a new central play space.
WISHART STATE SCHOOL, WISHART
Work will start later this year on four new classrooms and other facilities at booming Wishart State School on Brisbane’s southside, allowing it to take in an extra 200 students.
The well-regarded school has grown by about 25 per cent in recent years and currently has a capacity of 1061 students.
The building work would allow capacity to increase to 1157 students, rising to 1253 children once “in-fill’’ of the ground level was completed.
The Department of Education (Doe) has proposed to build a new two-storey “general learning centre’’ including four classrooms and associated breakout spaces, storerooms and offices, amenities and lifts.
Future in-fill of the ground level would create an extra four classrooms and breakout spaces, covered outdoor area and amenities.
That part of the expansion was subject to funding and future enrolment demand, but the area has been booming in recent years and the suburb’s population was expected to keep growing.
There would also be a new covered walkway, a carpark off an existing internal road linking to Morella St, replacement multipurpose court and landscaping.
Works on the project started in late 2022 and are expected to be finished in time for the 2024 school year.
ST JOSEPH’S COLLEGE GREGORY TERRACE, SPRING HILL
Revised plans were released in October last year for a huge expansion at St Joseph’s College, Gregory Terrace which will be rolled out over the coming 15 years.
The masterplan lodged by “Terrace’’ for its Spring Hill campus have been a bone of contention for some neighbours concerned about potential worsening of traffic and street parking, although the Catholic boys’ school has dismissed their fears.
Neighbours spoke out in late 2021 when the first lot of plans were revealed for several new multistorey buildings, which neighbours claimed would double its floor area and add 90 learning spaces.
The proposal was brought under the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation process.
The MID was approved by the State Government on December 12, 2022.
Terrace submitted a revised MID in June, 2022 after public consultation and engagement surveys following its original masterplan.
It included a series of building projects scheduled in a staged manner over the next 15-plus years, providing learning spaces, indoor and outdoor recreation spaces and improving accessibility across the campus facilities.
The proposed masterplan also sought the demolition of the existing Queensland Health building fronting Quarry St and retrofitting a carpark for storage, parking and a HPE facility for students.
A proposed five-storey building on Water St was expected to be completed sometime in the next decade.
It would include new STEM classrooms, indoor sports facility and manual arts classrooms and connect to the Tony White Building. There would be 69 basement parks.
The Westcourt building, on Water St, would have an extra storey and enlarged 227 sqm gross floor area.
It would be part of a new administration and office level.
The Waterford Place I building, also on Water St, would be up to four storeys and include a future cultural precinct and new music and sporting facilities.
Waterford Place II, on St Pauls Tce, would be eight storeys high.
Stage one works began last year and should be completed by 2024 and stage two could take up to 15 years to complete.
Terrace is a Catholic day school, founded by the Christian Brothers in 1875 and is one of the oldest of the nine participating Great Public Schools (GPS) Colleges in Queensland.
STUARTHOLME SCHOOL, TOOWONG
The top Catholic girls’ school announced in October, 2021 that it wanted to build
a training precinct at its Freers Farm property, once the site of the Freers potato chip factory.
It would include sporting fields, multipurpose courts and associated floodlighting.
Designs revealed by Stuartholme included a new pedestrian bridge over Ithaca Creek, which flows down from nearby Mt Coot-tha.
The chip factory building would be extended to include a cafe, with the additions on stilts for better flood resilience.
Fencing would be made up of bollards, with netting, to allow flood water to flow through.
There would be warning signs, with private users such as sports clubs warned of the need to evacuate in large rain events.
There have been several public meetings since the plans were revealed, with local politicians, school representatives and its planning experts attending.
The school has applied for approval through the Ministerial Infrastructure Designation process.
The application is still being assessed.
ST AIDAN’S ANGLICAN GIRLS’ SCHOOL, CORINDA
Plans to create a major sporting hub complete with an Olympic pool, tennis courts and much more will supercharge the sporting achievements of one of Queensland’s best girls’ schools.
But neighbours say the multistage St Aidan’s Anglican Girls’ School upgrade will create a traffic nightmare on surrounding streets.
The Ambiwerra sports ground masterplan has also raised concerns about sensitive Oxley Creek, noise, floodlights and a State Government approvals process which overrides Council’s planning laws.
After submitting the plans in 2021, College principal, Toni Riordan, said part of the process to obtain approval for its masterplan was a “robust and thorough’’ consultation process.
“At St Aidan’s, the relationships with our neighbouring communities has always been extremely important and valued by us, which is why we encourage concerned stakeholders to use the consultation channels available to express their views,’’ Ms Riordan said.
“In preparing Ambiwerra’s proposed masterplan, we considered how the surrounding community could use and benefit from the use of the site, which is why it was decided that the community will still be able to access the site.
“The proposed masterplan identifies potential community facilities such as a pedestrian and bike path, a potential future pedestrian bridge link across Oxley Creek to Oxley Commons, and a community garden.’’
The MID was then approved by the State Government on June 10, 2022.
DARLING POINT SPECIAL SCHOOL, MANLY
A special needs school on Brisbane’s bayside is set for its biggest revamp in its 35-year history after a development application was submitted for a massive $15.86 million facelift.
The Queensland Government’s redevelopment of Manly’s Darling Point Special School will include delivering a new three-storey learning building and play area.
The New Learning building will including 14 general learning areas, outdoor learning spaces, a multipurpose room, equipment store rooms, a staff collaborative area, staff and student amenities as well as an undercroft.
While the new play area will feature new play equipment, landscaping and fencing.
The project is a major boost for the school, which was originally the Darling Point Opportunity School from 1958 until it was demolished and the Darling Point Special School was opened on the same site at 368 Upper Esplanade in 1986.
The redevelopment also comes after the Queensland Government delivered two new general learning spaces worth more than $300,000 at the school, which were completed in May 2021.
Darling Point Special School’s revamp is also part of almost $25 million worth of projects invested into bayside schools from the Queensland Government.
In August last year, nearby Iona College started hosting temporary facilities for Darling Point Special School while works on the mega redevelopment on the waterfront school in Manly last for around 18 months.
After the redevelopment at Darling Point Special School is finished, the temporary buildings will be removed and the Iona College site will be regenerated.
MANLY STATE SCHOOL, MANLY
The Manly State School will embark on a massive $11.6 million expansion plan to deal with growth caused by a residential boom experienced in the area in recent years.
Enrolments at Manly State School have spiked in the past three years as an influx of young families move to the surrounding suburbs due to the proliferation of modern residential projects as the demand for bayside living continues to grow.
The school on Ernest St in Manly, which was built in 1910, has seen enrolments increase from 657 students in 2019 to 701 this year.
Responding to the trend, the Queensland Government has invested $11.6 million in the school to build a new multistorey learning centre and outdoor learning area.
“The new $11.1 million multistorey learning centre will include six general learning areas, a music centre and an outdoor learning area, A Queensland Department of Education spokesman said.
“A new $550,000 outdoor learning area is currently in the design phase, and will allow students to engage and learn in an outdoor environment, while catering to various learning needs of all students.”
A Ministerial Infrastructure Designation was submitted for the upgrades, which is still being assessed and works are yet to begin.
IONA COLLEGE, LINDUM
Iona College, an all-boys Catholic college on Brisbane’s bayside, will welcome more students than ever in the coming years after revealing plans for a $5 million expansion.
Iona College at Lindum started work on an extension to its existing Primary Building within this month, with the project to create purpose-built facilities for the school’s Year 5 and Year 6 students.
The upgrade, designed by Conrad Gargett Architects and to be built by Tomkins Commercial and Industrial Builders, comes after Iona launched a new $20 million multipurpose facility, the Provence Centre, in 2021.
Iona College rector, Fr Michael Twigg, said the school would increase enrolment capacity for Year 5 and 6 students from 2025 as part of the extension.
“Iona has seen significant demand from families wishing to join our school community. This has seen unprecedented numbers listed for student entry,” Fr Twigg said.
“For over 65 years, Iona has responded to the needs of our local area and this increase in primary intake helps meet those needs.”
The latest redevelopment is in response to community demand for enrolment opportunities at Iona with waiting lists in place for secondary enrolment.
Principal Trevor Goodwin said the college acknowledged the need for greater intake capacity at primary level.
He also said the upgrade would shift Iona’s focus from entry in Year 7 to increasing the number of Year 5 entries
The project is scheduled for completion by the start of the 2024 school year.
MANCEL COLLEGE, FIG TREE POCKET
Special needs students in southeast Queensland have received a major boost with a Brisbane school with construction on a massive $60 million revamp to its facilities, providing more than 120 additional spots, almost finished.
Language Disorder Australia started works on the master plan for Mancel College, formerly The Glenleighden School, at Fig Tree Pocket in 2021 and is nearing conclusion.
Building one, which includes classrooms and therapy rooms, was completed earlier this year and opened 70 extra spots before building two, featuring industrial and manual arts as well as IT and science rooms, started construction recently and will add another 50 spaces.
The other stages of the master plan, scheduled to be complete within five years, include a multipurpose sports hall as well as an early childhood and preschool centre to cater for younger students.
LDA chairman Peter Seldon said the project at the land, where they had been based for 43 years and bought off the state government last year, was three years in the making.
He also said the redevelopment would boost the specialist services available at a time when other facilities such as Seton College, in Brisbane’s south, was closing.
Mancel College’s development, which is jointly-funded through Federal Government funding and loans, is expected to bring in 55 to 70 full-time construction jobs as well as 15 full-time teaching and administration jobs for each new building.
Mr Seldon said he expected all seven buildings of the master plan to be complete by the end of 2026 but the process could be quicker with more help from the state and federal governments.
MARIST COLLEGE, ASHGROVE
Another one of Brisbane’s elite and historic colleges, Marist College Ashgrove, will undergo a major change with is brothers’ housing community on campus to be demolished and make way for a new assembly and STEM learning complex.
The college, established in 1941, officially launched its five-year strategic plan in February and among the major changes are a complete rebuild of the primary school, which will soon welcome more than 200 extra students per year.
The current brothers’ housing – Br Andrew Villa – will be demolished for a new assembly and STEM classroom building.
The project will include 10 new classrooms, to be built between the existing primary school and tennis courts while the Br Peter Carrick Wing – a classroom and administration block – will be refurbished and include a new tuckshop.
The college library will also undergo renovations. The college’s Cyprian Pavilion function space is already being refurbished and expanded.
The other areas to be sacrificed will be part of the current courtyard area, and the vacant land between the current primary school buildings and the Matthew Hayden Oval.
Mr Newman said the college would rely on internal fundraising to make the expansion happen.
The five-year plan was developed over the past two years after a parents survey in 2021, as well as talks with staff, old boys representatives, and the parents of boarders group.
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