Girrawheen SHA, teachers and Students re-invigorated by
refurbished science laboratories
Science Laboratory after refurbishment
Refurbished science facilities delivered at Girrawheen Senior
High School under the Building the Education Revolution (BER)
program have re-invigorated the staff and student body, according to
Principal Noel Woodley.
“The BER program has not just given us wonderful new facilities;
it has enabled our teaching staff to re-invent themselves through
use of new technology and made the learning environment more
enjoyable and interactive for students,” Mr Woodley said.
The $1.26 billion BER program is providing building,
refurbishment and maintenance works across 773 Western Australian
Government primary and high schools. The Department of Treasury and
Finance, Building Management and Works (BMW) has been managing the
successful roll-out of the program across WA since March 2009.
BMW’s commitment to providing modern buildings in a timely manner
is evidenced in its long
history of successfully managing the construction of buildings that
reflect value for money, whole of lifecycle objectives, sustainable
initiatives and educational strategies to Western Australian
Government schools.
Girrawheen Senior High School is one of 25 Government schools in
Western Australia to have facilities refurbished through the Science
and Language Centres for 21st Century Secondary Schools element of
the BER program. As part of the BER initiative, the school’s four
science laboratories were fully refurbished including new desks,
tables and cupboards, additional storage room, interactive white
boards, fumes cabinet and wash basins. New electrical wiring,
plumbing and gas fittings and latest safety features such as eye
wash stations and gas cut-off switches were also fitted.
All the school’s 500 students, ranging from Years 8-12, will be
using the refurbished facilities for their science studies. “The
students are very enthusiastic about the science program as a result
and our staff are feeling reinvigorated and looking forward to
teaching with the new technology in much improved facilities.” Mr
Woodley said the various people involved in the refurbishment,
including builders, architects, project managers and BMW staff, had
worked extremely well together and the school was very pleased with
the final results.
“The BER program has also been important in giving older schools
such as ours the opportunity to update facilities and show the
school community that we are active in offering the best resources
possible to our students,” Mr Woodley said. Western Australian
building company Hilburn Constructions completed the Girrawheen
Senior High School refurbishments and Director Adam Hilbrands said
the timing of the BER program had been perfect for his company.
“Previously we had concentrated on residential and unit developments
with enough work to keep us going at the rate we wanted,” Mr
Hilbrands said.
“We had just decided to start putting ourselves forward for more
commercial work when the downturn in the economy hit. “The BER
program not only gave us sufficient work to retain the employees,
sub-contractors and apprentices, but also work. “So the stimulus has
definitely worked for us and we’ve got more work coming through as a
result.” Mr Hilbrands said while the timeframe for the school work
was tight, excellent communication and planning between all parties
had contributed to the successful completion. BMW Executive Director
John Tondut said that in addition to representing good value for
money the project had provided quality facilities and as well as
succeeding in bringing a new player into the education building
market in Western Australia..
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