School gym in cost blowout

By Jade Lawton
School Council President Jason Barlow submitted the school’s experience this week, detailing how the school was forced to sign off on the project within just hours, and how the building’s actual cost were kept secret from staff.
Mr Barlow explained a gym extension was desperately needed, as the school’s 788 students could not fit in their half-sized gym – one of the last of its size to be approved for government schools.
“We had the building estimated by the original architects of the school (built in 2003) at approximately $750,000, well short of the $2 million quoted by the government. We also had the gym extension estimated at $650,000,” Mr Barlow wrote.
“So, if Berwick Primary School was allocated the full $3 million and was able to design and control how the money was spent, we would have achieved what the school requires for approximately $1.4 million, and would still have $1.6 million to put to other projects. Sadly, this is not the case.”
The experience was far removed from that of Catholic and independent schools, which were given control of the cash.
The Inquiry Committee is required to provide an interim report to Parliament by 31 August and a final report by 31 December.
Shadow Minister for Education Martin Dixon said the submission confirmed the State Government had ‘grossly mismanaged’ BER projects. “If the Brumby Government had not been so secretive and arrogant, they could have let the Berwick Primary School principal and school community build world-class facilities just like the Catholic and independent school systems have done,” he said.
Mr Barlow said the school feared the taskforce would not offer any benefit to the school, other than advising construction costs had indeed blown out.
“We wanted to try and get a satisfactory outcome for the school. If we fail in the process, it will be many years of fundraising before our school can afford to pay for the gym extension out of its own finances. This is about providing our children with the best possible environment in which to learn,” he added.