Capital Building Works Updates

CAPITAL WORKS BUILDING PROJECT UPDATE  

We are making progress in our Capital Works Building Project. 

The in-ground works have continued this fortnight with excavators digging abuts the main building to implement stormwater, fire services, water and sewer upgrades. 

During the next month, we will see continued excavation to enable the slab to be poured. During this time, the prep playground and part of the basketball court will be out of action. We apologise to our students and wider community for this inconvenience, however safety is the priority. We congratulate our students on their resilience and understanding. 

During the winter school holidays, the construction team will take advantage of the time without our full student body onsite, besides the holiday program, and undertake boring works on the oval, and lay the lower slab. This is helpful from a safety perspective, and also from a traffic management perspective given the number of concrete trucks required to service the works. 

Due to some delays the projected completion date for stage 1 handover is now mid March 2024. The delays were caused by a range of factors which can present during construction projects, beyond latent conditions. The core delay causes have been sub-floor asbestos being discovered earlier this year and subsequently having to be removed safely on consecutive weekends, authority delays in decommissioning gas for the gas relocation, unexpected rock presenting, and lime conditioning of existing soil to enable it to be re-used for the purpose of construction.  

We thank the 1A and 1C students, teachers, Jasmine and Claire, as well as the parents for their collective understanding and flexibility, as in the interest of safety, the students have been asked to learn in other learning spaces for the remainder of the the term to enable continued in-ground works. 

I bought some hot chips for 1A and 1C when they moved into the classroom spaces, to thank them on behalf of all community members, for their sacrifice and resilience in taking this on as a special adventure.

When school resumes for term three, the lower slab will have been poured, and onto structural steel installation. Up it goes!

Wembley PS Capital Works Construction Team Information

Please read below information regarding the Capital Work Project Construction Team who meet every fortnight, and discuss the progress, and project timeline. 

We will share this information with our students to help them learn about the people working hard to help our community. The construction team members have also been asked to feature as guest speakers in classrooms, and will be booked in throughout the year!

Angela Wang 

Senior Project Officer - Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA)

Angela is the senior project officer at the VSBA. 

Every Victorian child deserves access to a great school that prepares them to thrive in the 21st century. The Victorian School Building Authority is managing the education construction boom that will help ensure that. We are a division of the Department of Education and Training, established in 2016, to oversee the design and construction of new schools and early childhood centres, as well as the modernisation and upgrade of existing ones. 

The Victorian Government has committed $7.2 billion for these infrastructure projects as part of its Education State reforms. We are a team made up of building experts, project managers, architects and specialists in relocatable buildings, community engagement and asbestos removal. We’ve put Victoria at the cutting-edge of school design, and we innovate in everything we do. 

Angela is the project manager for the Wembley PS Capital works project, and has worked with Vassie and Terry on the project from its inception. 

Pam Drakopoulos B.Arch BPD ARBV AIA

Senior Lead Architect - AOA Architect Firm

As a Registered Architect and Design Manager with a background in planning and design and thirty years’ experience in project delivery, Pam Drakopoulos has successfully lead design, and documentation teams on education, retirement living, childcare projects, as well as large scale residential subdivisions, and industrial projects. Pam has also worked as a Project Manager and Contracts Superintendent. Her tenacity and commitment in project delivery have provided Pam with the ability to lead, connect and provide mentorship with the project team to deliver exceptional solutions.

Ronan Reid BSc MArch ARBV AIA

Senior Associate - AOA Architect Firm

Ronan has been working in architectural practice for 20 years, in Ireland, the UK, and including over 11 years practice in Australia focusing on education projects. This experience has given him a wealth of understanding of the project design process, from inception through documentation, to construction and completion. In collaborative and team leadership roles, he has successfully helped deliver projects large and small for education and commercial institutions across Ireland, UK, Australia and New Zealand. He has detailed skills in BIM (Building Information Modeling), documentation, coordination, and creative problem-solving.  He has a core interest in environmentally sustainable design and is a certified Passive House Designer. He is a sessional tutor at the University of Melbourne and a mentor through the Australian Institute of Architects.

Victor Umeobi

Project Manager - John Staff Construction Services

Responsibilities:

• Managing the construction schedule and activities
• Ensure work is done in compliance with all relevant building and safety regulations
• Select and manage subcontractor and supplier relationships
• Managing project expectations across the entire project delivery and between relevant stakeholders both on-site and in an administrative capacity

Mitch Dean

Project Coordinator - John Staff Construction Services

Responsibilities:

• Trade contractor procurement, trade letting & contracts
• Project cost control/management
• Work with site manager and consultant team to resolve issues onsite & plan upcoming works with required stakeholders.

Ryan Wilson

Site Manager - John Staff Construction Services

Responsibilities:

• Co-ordinating activities on site and supervision of construction workers
• Review building practices to verify compliance with health and safety standards and project management procedures
• Day to day problem solving and dealing with any issues that arise

Grant Hobson - B. Ed Sec.

Wembley PS grounds and facilities coordinator

Grant has a background in education, arts, media and communication and coordinating large scale environmental projects on South Australia’s far west coast. Grant and Lisa’s three boys are past Wembley students. Grant has worked at Wembley as a facilities coordinator for the past 7 years. During his tenure he has co-managed the design and development of new outdoor learning spaces including our beautiful Envirodeck area.  Grant has worked to improve and maintain our play and work areas while also responding to the day to day running of our evolving learning environment at Wembley. Grant is a keen surfer and fisher and is passionate about issues around reconciliation and the environment.

Vassie Vatsilas-D'Arcangelo

Principal-Wembley Primary School

Vassie's core role at Wembley PS is to support all students to feel safe and happy at school, so that they can learn; within the realms of this Capital Works Project, this is still Vassie's core role. 

Vassie is working in partnership with the VSBA, AOA, JohnStaff Construction Team and Wembley team, as well as the Wembley PS School Council, staff and students, to seek approval of building works process, throughout the planning, design, tender and now construction phase of the build. 

Vassie will be attending fortnightly site meetings, and communicating this information with staff, students and parents for the life of the build. Very exciting and groundbreaking stuff for current and future generations of Wembley students.