The Fortitude Valley State Secondary College is the first new inner-city state high school in Brisbane to be built in over 50 years.
Vertical schools, while familiar in other parts of the world, are still reasonably novel in Australia, particularly in the government school system.
Increasingly, though, the typology is becoming relevant as more families opt to live in inner-city areas because of their proximity to work and lifestyle amenities.
In Brisbane, as the dominance of high-value knowledge-intensive services further transforms the urban economy, significant urban renewal is driving greater residential density.
In response, the Queensland State Government has resourced the creation of two new vertical inner-city schools, one in Fortitude Valley in the inner-north and the other in Dutton Park in the inner-south.
The first of these two projects to get underway, Fortitude Valley State Secondary College, is also the first school to be built in Brisbane’s inner-city in more than 50 years.
It opened its doors to a foundation cohort of 150 junior students in January 2020 and by 2025 the college population is expected to grow to 1,500 students.
The college is located on the grounds of the former Fortitude Valley State School, which was closed in 2013 along with several others across the state as part of a Liberal government scheme to sell off public assets.
Until its closure, it was the longest-surviving state primary school in operation in Brisbane, with original buildings designed by Benjamin Backhouse and Richard Suter in 1867 and 1874.
Although the school had subsequently moved (in 1950, into a three-storey building on the site of the new college), the nineteenth-century buildings – now heritage-protected – are extant on the adjacent site and remain a significant influence on the area’s scale and streetscape.
Designed by COX, the new school is a flagship, future-focused educational facility that embraces the site’s rich educational history.
It sympathetically integrates with its inner-urban surroundings and sets a new benchmark for contemporary, urban schools in Queensland.
The COX design is strongly aligned with and embraces the Education vision to create inclusive, student-centred education and community facility that responds to individual student learning needs and encourages community engagement and use.
The campus actively extends beyond its physical boundary, inviting the participation of the wider community into the college’s activity, program, and use of its facility.
The elegant building COX designed has both traditional classrooms together with contemporary workshop and collaborative spaces spanning across a number of levels.
Constructed by Hutchinson Builders, the first areas of the school were completed in time for Term 1, 2020 with the school’s new vertical building and sports oval completed ready for Term 3, 2020.
Project Awards
2021, Winner, The Jennifer Taylor Award for Educational Architecture, Queensland State Awards, Australian Institute of Architects
2021, Educational Architecture, Brisbane Regional Commendation, Australian Institute of Architects
Project Details
Project Area – 24,800 m2
Completion Date – 2020
Building Levels – 7
Construction Cost – $81 M
Construction Duration – 88 weeks
Project Team
Client
Queensland Department of Education
Architecture
COX (Design)
COX is a design-focused contemporary architectural practice with studios located in every major Australian city and a history spanning 60 years.
Key to their ethos is supporting the public life of our cities. Cox does this by ensuring each project makes positive contributions to its public realm – giving more than it takes.
ThompsonAdsett (Documentation)
ThomsonAdsett is a leading architecture and design firm with studios covering the eastern seaboard of Australia.
Project Management and Quantity Surveying
Donald Cant Watts Corke
Donald Cant Watts Corke (DCWC) is one of Australia’s largest, privately owned providers of Quantity Surveying, Project Management, and associated services.
Landscape Architecture
Arcadia
Arcadia is an award-winning landscape architecture and urban design practice working at the intersection of the built form and nature.
Civil and Structural Engineer
BG&E
The BG&E team comprises 800 highly skilled people, in 14 offices across Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the Middle East.
The firm designs and delivers engineering solutions for clients in the Property, Transport, Ports and Marine, Water, Defence, Renewables, and Resources sectors.
Services Engineer and Lift Consultant
JHA
JHA is a specialist building services engineering consultancy firm offering a full multi-discipline approach to all stages of a project lifecycle from design through construction and into operation.
Hydraulic Engineer and Fire Consultant
SPP Group
Brisbane-based SPP offers services for the design, documentation, specification, and construction quality control of Hydraulic Services, Civil Hydraulics, Fire Services, Mechanical Services, and Electrical Services.
Building Certification
McKenzie Group
From offices in Brisbane, the Gold Coast, Melbourne, and Sydney, 100 skilled and passionate senior managers, project managers, auditors, engineers, access consultants, building surveyors, and technical specialists deliver services across almost all industry sectors and project types.
Construction
Hutchinson Builders
Hutchies has been building the structures in which Australians live, work, study, shop, and play since 1912.
From its early beginnings, the firm has grown into a dynamic and diverse construction company, delivering sophisticated projects across a comprehensive portfolio.
Photography
Christopher Frederick Jones
Christopher is a highly-regarded architectural photographer based in Brisbane, Australia.
Photo Gallery
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Design © 2021 COX. All Rights Reserved.| Images © 2021 Christopher Frederick Jones. All Rights Reserved.
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