Constructing buildings for schools is an education in itself, according to Derek Sidey. The Managing Director of Gledhill Constructions, who has built facilities for Santa Sabina College, Loreto School Normanhurst and Pymble Ladies College, says school construction is quite unlike building on a green fields site.
"Usually you are trying to work around staff and students in a functioning school. The school holidays become the only time you can do loud and dusty work. There are occupational health and safety plans to make sure no one can be hurt and then you have the access problems for trucks and concrete pumps," he says.
Sidey's company has won two MBA Construction Awards for its work on a new library and staff facilities at Santa Sabina College in Strathfield, including Best Use of Bricks. The three storey building is a blend of modern glass and steel frames with precise brickwork and charming archways that pay homage to the surrounding heritage convent buildings.
And it's the brickwork that makes this building. The precisely laid bricks and arch features feel modern, yet well-worn and inviting.
The Tanner and Associates design specified extensive use of face brick internal walls, rather than relying on gyprocking or expensive plastering.
"All school buildings work to a tight budget and the exposed brick walls were a good way to mix function - they withstand very harsh use - as well as making the rooms pleasant places to be," he says.
The building - which took 13 months to complete - used Austral Bowral dry-pressed bricks in a colour matched to the surrounding buildings which date back to the 1900's. The design also demanded a high standard of workmanship, which Sidey admits can be difficult to source.
