The Ponds School contract is two major sites. The new public school and new high school are located at Riverbank Drive, while the second site is a new school for specific purposes located at The Ponds Boulevard. There are 15 buildings, play areas, a carpark, a multi-purpose hall, courtyards and the special school has a hydrotherapy pool. Sites are landscaped.
Site contamination was an identified issue. Despite testing, works were re-sequenced as required to suit unexpected finds.
Design bulk and fill levels were at variance to the documents, on both sites, and levels needed to be reworked to retain a significant amount of material on both sites.
Tendered construction programs were reduced as there were delays in acceptance of the tender and the end date for the start of the 2015 school year was retained. This gave the builder a reduced building program. Inclement weather also became an issue. Despite extensions of time taking the contract to mid-February, the builder completed the works by the first week of January 2015, as required, allowing for the start of the new school year.
Modification of the footing design and slab design assisted in reducing time. Works were further managed by rescheduled and resourcing.
This major project/projects has been completed on time, to a very high standard in a very tight timeframe, despite significant difficulties due to the site and weather.