Building the Education Revolution
Commonwealth funded
Primary School in the 21st Century (PS21)
National School Pride (NSP)
Hi Everyone,
Welcome back – I hope you all had a lovely break and that you’re ready for the countdown to Christmas.
You may be wondering why the building project has not begun by now as we had anticipated. Unfortunately we are estimating a delay of between 4-8 weeks at this stage.
During the break we received tender results from 5 construction companies. These came in at significantly more than we had anticipated and have available in our budget. There are several reasons for this and one significant factor is that there are so many other school building works being undertaken in the state at the moment. There is an over-demand for builders and therefore the prices available are not very competitive. We are also facing the very common step of having to work through the project in detail with builders to make sure we are getting the best value for money and to see where easy cost-savings can be made.
We have met with our architects to discuss a way forward and our intention is to negotiate with the 2 construction companies that provided the lowest tender results. In addition we will also need to make some adjustments to the design of the building which may then require an additional application to Lane Cove Council for an amendment to the currently approved development application. Our guiding principle in making amendments will be that the building should be completed for the amount budgeted. This process needs to be done thoroughly and will take some time to work through.
We are still confident that at the end of the project we will have a beautiful new classroom to move into early next year.
The NSP grant money however is on track and the bathroom renovation in the main building is well under way. We anticipate it will take another couple of weeks to finsh.
Jess (jkimber01@bigpond.com or 0411220111)
