Parents float proposal to turn former Peter Mac hospital into vertical school for city students

INNER-city parents are pushing to have a former hospital converted into a school as Melbourne’s student numbers boom.

Inner-city families, including Rose, 7, calls for the former hospital to be converted to a school. Picture: David Caird

• Victoria needs 50 new public schools by 2021 to cope with demand
• Crush could force smart students out of gifted school program
• City’s population set to double by 2051
• Melbourne’s western fringes hot spot for young families

INNER-city parents are pushing to have a former hospital converted into a school as Melbourne’s student numbers boom.

The state government is looking to sell off the former Peter MacCallum Hospital site in East Melbourne, after declaring it “surplus” to public need.

But City Schools for City Kids said offloading the prime site — tipped to be worth more than $100 million — to developers would be “negligent”.

RELATED: MELBOURNE’S OUTER SUBURBS FACING HIGH SCHOOL CRUSH

MORE: PROPOSAL TO TEACH STUDENTS IN SHIFTS TO COPE WITH DEMANDS

The City of Melbourne is projected to face the greatest surge of school-aged children of any inner-city municipality, with a 63 per cent increase in the decade to 2026.

City Schools for City Kids spokeswoman Jo Fallshaw said the inner-city pocket of land was “irreplaceable”.

“The chances of getting such a solid and appropriate building for a school in such an ideal location in the future are very slim,” she said. “To sell it off to developers to get more apartments would be negligent.

“If the government is going to accept the stamp duty from all these high density apartments being built and planned around Melbourne then they have to provide the infrastructure.

“Without that we are cheating future generations.”

The former Peter MacCallum hospital in St Andrews Place, East Melbourne. Picture Norm Oorloff

Current inner-city secondary schools, including Albert Park College and University High in Parkville, are already under pressure.

University High had its zone stretched last year to accommodate the student boom.

City Schools for City Kids warned that thousands of city students would be unable to secure a spot at a school within 20 minutes of their home in the next five years.

Data crunched by the Grattan Institute shows an extra 7500 students — 2000 secondary and 5500 primary pupils — will live in the City of Melbourne in 2026.

“The crush we’ve experienced to date is mainly in primary schools but that will kick over into secondary schools this year or next,” the institute’s Pete Grattan said.

“There is a looming boom.

“It could be smart to hang onto this site for the future. We’ve got to keep the option open.”

The Peter MacCallum centre moved from St Andrews Place to Parkville last year, becoming the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.

The site has been leased to the Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital until the end of 2018.

The State Government has proposed rezoning the site from health to a mixed zone, paying the way for residential and commercial use.

A well-placed commercial real estate agent estimated the property’s value, in Melbourne’s “most romantic suburb”, at more than $100 million.

“It would be safe to say it would be the most desirable site available in Melbourne,” the agent said.

A government spokesman said new schools were planned for Docklands, Richmond and Prahran.

Capacity at Albert Park College would also be increased.

“We are delivering an unprecedented $2.5 billion to build and upgrade schools across Victoria — including new and upgraded secondary schools for students living in Melbourne’s booming inner-suburbs and CBD — so that every family in every community can access a great government school,” the spokesman said.

[e-mail]

@moniquehore