Construction Starts on New Pimpama School

PIMPAMA, QUEENSLAND – Plenary Schools has hosted a sod turning ceremony at the site of Pimpama’s new primary school, which is being delivered as part of the Queensland Schools public-private partnership project; a whole-of-life $1.517 billion project.

Education, Training and Employment Minister John-Paul Langbroek visited the site, located off Dixon Drive, to officially mark the start of construction.

Plenary Group Director, Ray Wilson, was pleased to see construction at Pimpama underway on time.

“Plenary Schools is pleased to mark the first of what will be many exciting construction milestones in the delivery of 10 new schools for the Queensland Government.”

The Queensland Schools Project will see Plenary Schools design, construct, commission, partly finance, maintain and provide facilities management services for the schools over a concession period of thirty years.

Mr Wilson said the schools will be built by Plenary’s consortium partner Watpac over five-years and the first package of schools, Pimpama’s new primary school and a high school in Burpengary, will open at the start of the 2015 academic year. The operational requirements of the schools will be managed long-term by Plenary Asset Management and Compass Group.

The new school at Pimpama, which spans an area of 5.8 hectares, has been designed as a ‘learning neighbourhood’, with classrooms and school facilities purposefully grouped to enhance learning and accommodate future growth in student numbers.

It will also feature environmental design initiatives including reticulated storm water, and natural and energy-efficient lighting.

Watpac Chief Executive Officer, Martin Monro, said the first stage of construction at Pimpama is now underway and involves the completion of bulk earthworks, which are scheduled for completion in July.

“The construction at Pimpama is expected to create between 100 - 200 full-time equivalent jobs, both direct on site and indirectly, with the workforce expected to peak at around 150 - 200 people,” Mr Monro said.

The Queensland Schools Project will also see new schools delivered at Pallara, Ripley Valley, Springfield, Griffin, Bellbird Park, Caboolture and Redbank Plains. The package of two secondary and eight primary schools will cater for around 10,000 students during peak periods of enrolment.

Read more on the Queensland Schools Project here

Executive Director, Communications
+61 3 8888 7754
+61 418 530 806
chris.whitefield@plenary.com