St. Paul’s School, a leading Anglican school in Bald Hills, has lodged a development application for a new resource centre in the heart of its campus.
Based on a development application lodged with Brisbane City Council, the proposed resource centre is going to be a 1-to 2-storey education building which will provide new resource and collaboration spaces, a senior study centre, hospitality and makers spaces, and flexible learning spaces.
A report prepared by Ethos Urban on behalf of the applicant states that the new facility will be consistent with most buildings. The goal is to create an outdoor environment that connects with the indoor spaces allowing learning to extend beyond the walls of the building.
It would be located in the centre of the campus adjacent to the existing Wellbeing Centre and Sutton Building. In order to accommodate IT learning facilities, part of the existing Giese Library will be refurbished. The existing cafe in Sutton Building also needs to be demolished in order to proceed with the construction of a new building.
Heritage Impact
The new development will be situated approximately 50 metres from two hoop pine trees that are known to have cultural heritage significance.
The hoop pines are indicative of the pattern of Queensland settlement. They’re associated with the evolution of non-indigenous settlement in the Moreton Bay district in the 1850s and with the earliest development of the Bald Hills district in particular.
To alleviate any possible concerns on the heritage impact of the development, a statement has been prepared by Ivan McDonald Architects, assuring the public that there will be no adverse visual or physical impacts on the cultural heritage significance of the place that will result from the proposed development.
“Although not strictly within our area of expertise, it is also noted that the 50m separation between the proposed building and the hoop pines is a considerable distance and is unlikely to have any detrimental physical impact on the health or vigour of the hoop pines,” Ivan McDonald Architects stated in the documents.