Westminster School, Modular General Learning Area (GLA)

A best-for-project approach to meeting a challenging time frame

Sarah understood that the success of this project would be measured by having a high-quality, fully functional suite of classrooms ready for students on the first day of the 2024 school year.

Faced with the challenge of design, development approvals, construction, installation, and commissioning over just five months, Sarah’s team worked collaboratively with the school and its architect to agree a design compliant with the available dimensions.

With the concept design agreed, Sarah commenced construction in its warehouse concurrently with detailed design, interior detailing, and development approvals, and ordered long lead procurement items including joinery.

Futureproofing the school’s requirements

The school had a requirement for the new classrooms to be installed in a manner that would allow them to be relocated to other parts of the campus in line with future master planning.

Sarah’s team worked with an independent construction verifier during the design phase to ensure that the internal bracing was adequate to withstand being moved as many times as would meet the school’s vision and fit out items were installed to be safely secured but easily detached for relocation.

Modular service techniques

Sarah’s team employed innovative methodologies to provide electricity to the classrooms, using modular service techniques where services effectively can be connected and disconnected from a single source across all classrooms.

These methodologies ensured that the buildings could be moved and easily recommissioned, while avoiding costly, time consuming, permanent inground service installations on the current site.

Avoiding construction impacts on the school community

With the modular buildings being constructed in Sarah’s off-site warehouse, the team worked with the school to plan for delivery, installation, and commissioning of the new buildings over the December/January holiday school closure period.

The team leveraged its excellent relationships with subcontractors, who willingly provided services during a period when many businesses are winding down, and Sarah’s key personnel worked through their own Christmas holidays.

Due to this dedication from all parties, the project was delivered as scheduled ready for teachers to prepare to welcome students as scheduled on the first day of term one.

Attention to detail

Sarah’s team employed several innovative methodologies to provide modular buildings that look and feel like high-quality permanent structures.

To ensure the classrooms sat level with the ground and provided excellent access for students and people with mobility challenges, Sarah worked closely with building certifiers to ensure structural compliance.

Interior detailing was carefully considered and implemented to mimic permanent fixtures while meeting waterproofing and quality requirements.

Thinking differently  

The unique construction methodologies employed to deliver bespoke modular buildings that could be relocated required everyone on the team to think differently about building.

During the induction process and using daily toolboxes, Sarah’s team ensured that all subcontractors were fully briefed and invested in the success of the project.

Solutions focused

Sarah’s long history working alongside Westminster on its Master Plan meant that the school was already aware of Sarah’s solution focused approach.

The high level of trust between all parties meant that the school’s management was confident that Sarah was the right builder to solve the school’s capacity challenges within a tight timeframe.

Sarah’s ‘can-do’ approach was integral in ensuring business continuity and quality education outcomes for the school community.

Digital excellence

Sarah’s team used the expertise of its in-house Building Information Modelling or BIM team to match the site constraints with the capabilities of Sarah’s warehouse construction methods.

This technology ensures that once delivered to site, there were no surprises, and buildings could be installed and completed within the planned timeframe.