Campus Redevelopment
In recent weeks, the School has been delighted to see the Campus Redevelopment Phase One commence, with Fairbrother builders on-site and working hard on the new Sports Centre excavations. We are pleased to be working again with locally owned Fairbrother - another values-based company serving our community. The Friends' School has worked closely with Fairbrother in the past, including for the construction of The Farrall Centre, and we are proud to be supporting a Tasmanian building firm to undertake this exciting project.
This project is part of an important journey to revitalise the built environment at Friends’. We must do this so that we can provide the facilities needed to foster optimum educational outcomes for our students today and into the future.
New Sports Centre
The new Sports Centre, to replace the existing WN Oats Gym, is being built adjacent to Friends’ Health & Fitness on the top Carr Street tennis courts. This multi-purpose new Sports Centre will be an enduring commitment to sport, health and wellbeing at Friends’, supporting and promoting the School’s commitment to sport, health and wellbeing in a revitalised ‘sports precinct’.
The contemporary and spacious Sports Centre will provide high-quality facilities and services for many sport and co-curricular programs. The centrepiece will be a professional, fully sprung timber court with a generous three-metre run-off around the court. It will also house two new learning spaces for health and physical education classes. The new Sports Centre is for the whole school to use and will provide a first-class facility for basketball, netball, volleyball, badminton and other similar court sports.
The Centre will include change-rooms, seating for spectators, extended outdoor ledges for all-weather cover and a new, welcoming reception area and ‘viewing wall’. Covered walkways and lifts from the Sports Centre, through North Block, across to the new learning centre and down to the Main Carpark will address the majority of our access challenges.
The architects of the project, Bence Mulchay, have given careful consideration to the Sports Centre design and function:
"The proposed Sports Centre presents to the street with a reduced scale to the existing North Block, seeking to transition to adjoining buildings. The Sport Centre’s front setback aligns with the adjoining Carr Street residence and it is offset from the side boundary. The Sports Centre has a red brick base and off-white precast concrete external walls. This light-coloured material palette is informed by the historic painted brick buildings further south on the campus and later red brick buildings and landscaping additions along Carr Street."
To replace the ‘top’ Carr Street tennis courts, the ‘bottom’ tennis courts will be professionally resurfaced.
Once the new Sports Centre is built on the top Carr Street tennis courts, Fairbrother will also help us transform the current and outdated WN Oats Gym into a teaching and learning facility. The refurbished WN Oats Centre will also house a new Heads of School Office, Learning Support and a range of contemporary learning and staff spaces.
Supporting our students - now and for the future
Through prudent long-range financial planning, the Board of Governors has been accumulating resources for the revitalisation of our built environment. This includes the retention of a portion of our operating budget in a capital reserve, and the reduction of debt to allow for future borrowing capacity. These transformational changes on the Commercial Road Campus will not be possible, however, without the help of our community. In addition to savings and borrowings from the School, we are seeking philanthropy from our community to co-fund this vital redevelopment at Friends’.
Campus Redevelopment Tours
School community members are invited to join us for a tour of the Campus Redevelopment Phase One on the Commercial Road Campus. You will see the current works being undertaken to build a new Sports Centre. Attendees will also be provided with an overview of the features of the transformed WN Oats Centre and new Sports Centre that will benefit our students and staff. The Director of Community Engagement, Bill Avery, will take the tours and attendees are requested to book at the links below.
Wednesday 12 May, 8:45am to 9:30am - Book Here
Thursday 13 May, 4pm to 4:45pm - Book Here
Tuesday 18 May, 8:45am to 9:30am - Book Here
If you have any queries or would like to know more about you can support this exciting transformation, please don’t hesitate to contact Director of Community Engagement, Bill Avery or Development Manager, Lucy Loney
For up-to-date information, please visit the School website