Construction of the new three-level Junior Learning Centre at Milton State School is on track to finish by mid-2021 and once opened, it’s expected to accommodate an additional 150 local students.
The new school will stand at the old tennis courts facing a Haig Road entrance. It will feature six classrooms for prep students on the top level, whilst eight classrooms for general use and two outdoor learning areas with associated amenities will be set in the lower levels.
An elevated walkway will be built to connect the new building to the heritage-listed building. The first Milton State School block, which faces Bayswater Street, was built in 1923.
In addition to the new vertical learning site, major service upgrades will also be undertaken as a flood mitigation strategy, given that the school has had significant flooding and was under three metres of water during the 2011 floods in Brisbane.
The tennis courts will also be transferred to the Baroona Road section, where an existing building will be taken down.
In October, Principal Paul Zernike said that the new building’s construction will run for 12 months. Once completed, the school will still follow its existing enrolment management plan, where only students from the local area will be accepted.
Paynters won the tender for this project.