St Anthony’s School
THE SOUND OF LEARNING
Pretect creates superior acoustic and noise proof space to enable simultaneous lessons at St Anthony’s School Melton South
Pretect were recently contracted to design, construct and deliver a general purpose learning area for the increasingly popular St Anthony’s School Melton South.
With enrolment figures steadily rising, St Anthony’s was in growing need of additional facilities. It was critical that the proposed new classrooms could fit into a vacant unused area, adjoining the existing library, but without impinging on precious play space.
With this in mind, the school decided to opt for modular building that would ensure minimal disruption to school life, a rapid build time and guaranteed delivery date. Moreover, prefabricated construction meant the ability to remain within budget constraints thanks to the majority of construction being completed in a controlled factory environment.
Pretect’s superior quality and demonstrated history of modular expertise meant that a building could be designed and installed within the school’s site limitations. The design team worked closely with the school to transform St Anthony’s educational brief, into a functional, appealing design, facilitating the school’s learning and teaching approaches.
This collaboration resulted in fantastic customised features such as proportional ceiling heights with elevated windows as a way to maximise natural light and ventilation, the flexibility of being able to open or close down learning spaces, ample storage and preparation areas, as well as a range of other benefits that came together to create a self-contained learning neighbourhood.
Particular attention was given to developing a solution that would cater to the school’s request to have a space in which they could engage in multiple learning processes simultaneously. As a result, Pretect came up with a customised noise control plan that included the application of superior acoustic treatments within the building, as well as the configuration of all learning spaces to optimise ambient noise levels.
Finally, the latest addition to St Anthony’s was designed to reflect the existing visual identity of the school. External treatments and textures were inspired by existing facilities and the design elements were chosen to complement the school’s on-site constructed buildings for a sense of synergy and permanence.
As with every Pretect project, a lot of time and dedication was invested into developing personalised solutions tailor made to the client’s brief. However, the school was yet another client that was able to take advantage of Pretect’s extensive experience in construction for the educational sector.
Namely, Pretect has developed numerous engineering and design features while working on previous projects and brought them to clients for added cost saving and design efficiencies. This includes elements such as building orientation, provision of natural access routes to the building and the incorporating of transition points for students between outside and inside behaviour modes.
Pretect’s wealth of experience was once again reflected in the final outcome of the project- an attractive, customised, functional and versatile learning area that was ready to meet the needs of a growing student body on time and within budget.
FEATURES
- Contract Value: $670,000
- Superior acoustic treatments installed within the building.
- External treatments and textures designed to complement existing facilities
- Maximised use of natural light and ventilation with strategically positioned ceiling and window heights.