Public Works Committee: Mount Barker Primary School Redevelopment

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:19): I move:

That the 110^th report of the committee for the Fifty-Fourth Parliament, entitled Mount Barker Primary School Redevelopment Project, be noted.

Mr Speaker, this is a project, as you would anticipate, that is very close to my heart. Mount Barker Primary School is located on Dumas Street, Mount Barker, within the District Council of Mount Barker. The Department for Education has advised that the school is the regional centre for students with complex needs and works with the National Disability Insurance Scheme providers to ensure that a holistic approach to education is achieved for all students.

In 2016, Mount Barker Primary School was allocated $1 million as part of the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) program and thereafter Mount Barker Primary School was allocated $7.5 million as part of the Department for Education's capital works program then announced.

The Department for Education has advised that to achieve cost efficiencies and maximise opportunities both of these budgets were combined to provide a project budget of $8.5 million, less fees then expended. A further $1.5 million was approved in October 2019, resulting in a total project budget of approximately $10 million. As the local member, I was delighted that that project total in budget was made available.

The proposed redevelopment of Mount Barker Primary School will include demolition and new works to accommodate up to 440 students on the school site. The project will include the construction of a new two-storey building which will, in turn, comprise new administration facilities, including reception offices; staff facilities and amenities; general learning areas; service learning areas and flexible areas for large and small group learning; a new disability unit, including general and service learning areas; flexible spaces for learning; an external learning space and specialist amenities; staff and student amenities, including lift access; and the demolition of aged buildings. Construction for the project is expected to commence in October 2020, with completion anticipated for January 2022.

The committee examined written and oral evidence in relation to this project and received assurances that the appropriate consultation had been undertaken. The committee is satisfied that the proposal has been subject to the appropriate agency consultation and does meet the criteria for the examination of projects described in the Parliamentary Committees Act.

Based on the evidence considered and pursuant to section 12C of the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991, the Public Works Committee does report to parliament that it recommends the scope of the works that I have outlined to the house.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (11:22): I am pleased to be able to rise to assist in the debate and the noting of the Mount Barker Primary School's capital works project and the corresponding report prepared for and supported by the Public Works Committee.

I thank the Public Works Committee, chaired by the member for Kavel, for that important work and as we deliver $1.4 billion worth of new infrastructure in our public school system in South Australia, that scrutiny process ensures that the people of South Australia get best possible bang for their buck and that the students and the school communities that are supported by these building projects get the best possible projects.

I am certain that as the Public Works Committee has been going through that extraordinary body of work, dozens and dozens of projects have already passed through and been supported by the Public Works Committee, with more than 100 in total including those to come. There would have been few projects that would have attracted the laser-like focus and vision of the member for Kavel and the Chair of that committee, as did the Mount Barker Primary School project. It now has a budget, given the extra expenditure committed by this government to ensure that the scope of works that are necessary at that school are able to be completed, in excess of $10 million.

Currently, there are 382 students at Mount Barker Primary School and they benefit from a world-class education with great teachers, but it is fair to say that the facilities for some time have not been what those students all need and they did not support the delivery of the curriculum in the way that we deliver it now.

There is also, of course, a significant population growth in Mount Barker, a significant population growth across the whole township, including the areas serviced by the Mount Barker Primary School itself. We are endeavouring to have the student capacity at that school next year, when this project is complete, lifted to the order of 440 students. Even with the move of year 7 into high school—and of course there are corresponding capital works at the Mount Barker High School that will support the lift in student population—we anticipate this being a school, along with the other schools in Mount Barker, that will continue to grow. I commend principal Joanne Simpson for her leadership of the school, including on this project.

There was one other project that is benefiting the teaching of students at Mount Barker Primary School through the provision of new infrastructure, and that was in 2019 when Mount Barker Primary School, along with all the other public schools in the state in November 2019, joined in having world-class internet connections—a fibre-optic cable connection directly to the school as part of the Marshall Liberal government's $80 million infrastructure project to lift internet speeds. This has assisted the teaching and learning at the school.

The building project, designed by Wiltshire Swain Architects and builder FDC Construction and Fitout, is indeed now underway. We are looking forward to that project being completed. As the member for Kavel said, it is due to be completed by early next year. I am pleased to report to the house that, according to the latest information I have, it is on track to be completed early, in December this year. Of course, there has been some publicity about a couple of projects where, unfortunately, there have been slippages, whether through latent conditions, challenges with structural steels or an unfortunate situation when they closed, leaving a couple of our schools in a difficult situation.

We are also pleased that many of the school projects are indeed running substantially ahead of schedule. Mount Barker Primary School at the moment has a December completion date, but of course we do have challenges when there are lockdowns. Hopefully, there will not be any more lockdowns in South Australia, but it is always a possibility. However, the confidence I have is that we are on track at the moment for this project to be complete well and truly in advance and ready for the school year in 2022.

It is a substantial project, a new building comprising general learning areas and service learning areas focused on STEM, a new disability unit with a range of learning areas, administration facilities, building amenities, a new landscaped courtyard for open-plan circulation and the demolition of some of the ageing facilities that are no longer fit for practice, suitable for purpose or appropriate for use in a school.

I am really excited about this project, and I know the member for Kavel is too. I commend him for his engagement with his local schools. I can assure the school community at Mount Barker Primary School, and all the other schools in Mount Barker, that the member for Kavel is the sort of member who, every time he visits a school or a preschool community and engages in that community, the next day he is on the phone to the minister to share what he has learnt and to share whatever their views are. Certainly, the enthusiasm of the community for education is really welcomed and the enthusiasm of their local of member of parliament for this project is very much valued.

Mr CREGAN (Kavel) (11:27): This is a very important and significant project for my community, one that is deeply valued by my community and by me. I am very grateful to the minister for his close involvement in not just this project but other projects across the Adelaide Hills. It is right to say, as the minister has emphasised, that the Adelaide Hills, not just Mount Barker, has many growing communities.

In fact, it is important to emphasise in this place that communities outside of Mount Barker are growing at similar rates in some places. It is an attractive place to live and it is an attractive place to raise a family. It is an important place for education and will continue to be so, and the school will continue to be absolutely essential to the wider Adelaide Hills community.

It is important for me to put on record here how grateful I am to Jo Simpson, her staff, the school governing council and all the school community, including parents and students. They have been working through a construction site, and it has not necessarily been easy in those circumstances. There has been the need to remove building materials from the school and introduce new materials.

What is proposed at Mount Barker Primary School is the construction of a second storey. It is a very beautiful site within the township and a site that I note many residents at Mount Barker are very fond of. Of course, many have a close connection to the school, not just through their families but, in many cases, because they were educated there as well.

I will be delighted to see this project complete. I understand that it is reasonably on track. I am very grateful to the architects, Wiltshire Swain, and the builders for accommodating what is a reasonably confined site in particular places. On one side of the site is the school oval, and so on, but on the other side of the site within the existing township is a reasonably constrained site. They have done an excellent job seeing through a design for this location so that the site remains accessible and incredibly useful and well loved into the future.

It is also right to say, as I have earlier said in this place, that the minister has seen through a most remarkable capital works program in this state. He has presided over an enormous body of work, and I know that every single member is particularly grateful on behalf of their community, but also I know, in the quietness of the hearts of every member, is a deep love and affection for local schools and an appreciation of the importance of education. I know firsthand that the minister has had an extraordinary workload. That has not been apparent, of course, but it is clear from the number of reports coming to my committee that there has been an extraordinary workload. He has seen through that workload with good humour and excellence, and I am appreciative of that too.

Motion carried.