Bob Hawke College

Project snapshot

Designed by Bateman Architects and T&Z Architects, Bob Hawke College is a brand-new government secondary school adjacent to Subiaco Oval.

We were short-listed through an EOI process and won the project on competitive tender with weighted criteria based on methodology, program, organisation capacity personnel, local content and price.

Overcoming challenges

• Subiaco Oval continued to stage events and house the West Australian Football Commission through to its closure and demolition in July 2019. During this time, the team coordinated with the WAFC, West Coast Eagles and Fremantle Dockers to ensure day to day construction activities were coordinated with stadium activity.
• The required tolerances for the structural design were extremely small, due to the large amount of structural steel fixings in each of the post tensioned slabs. This required a significant amount of coordination between manufacturers, subcontractors and the project team.

“Our agile, hands-on approach enabled us to overcome the many logistical challenges presented at Bob Hawke College. We managed the program and subcontractors’ performances tightly, while splitting the volume of work over multiple site managers to ensure a quality and timely result.

Our early procurement of trades on the Bob Hawke College project gave us an adequate lead time for materials and sub-contractor coordination through workshops and the shop drawing process.”

Jason Thomson, General Manager.

Highlights

• PACT was awarded the 2019 Building Management and Works Head Contractor Apprenticeship and Training Award for our commitment to the engagement of apprentices on the Bob Hawke College project. We consistently exceeded the 11.5% target training rate by more than double throughout the project.
• A total of 1,800 construction workers helped deliver the entire school campus over 17 months.
• The project was completed almost two weeks ahead of the contract Practical Completion date.
• The 24 post-tensioned suspended slab pours were completed by mid-March 2019; under 8 months from taking possession of the site.
• Roof sheeting to the four main buildings was completed by the end of May 2019.
• There is over 11,000m² of façade cladding on the project.
• The project has had 2 tower cranes servicing the site. The first was removed as programmed in early June 2019.

features of development

The structure is formed from post-tensioned concrete slabs and a structural steel frame. A vertical post-tensioned beam provides support to the entire South West corner of the Sector 3 building.

The college’s environmental footprint is minimised through the use of three and four level buildings that are universally accessible and incorporate passive solar design principles.

Bob Hawke College was a Winner at the 2020 Master Builders – Bankwest Excellence in Construction Awards in the category: Best Education Building $50-$100 million