Office blocks, warehouses considered for school sites in space squeeze

1 week ago 4

A Bunnings warehouse might not be the first thing that comes to mind when picturing a shiny new school, but as Brisbane’s population soars, developers are considering less-than-conventional options for fresh urban campuses.

Although Brisbane’s two newest state schools opted for vertical designs when footprint constraints threatened the campus size, the independent sector said funding constraints made it difficult to build infill schools from scratch.

A report commissioned by industry body Independent Schools Queensland delivered in late 2024 found it would cost up to $46.3 million more to build a vertical school than to repurpose an existing building, such as an office tower or “big box” retail store.

Queensland independent schools have considered repurposing “big box” retail centres such as Bunnings Warehouses in growing, high-density areas.

“Now is the time to get all options on the table for consideration to ensure parental choice in education remains over the coming decades,” ISQ chief executive Chris Mountford said.

Mountford said 13 more independent schools would be needed to meet student demand in the next two decades, while state government planning models predicted at least 70 new primary and secondary schools would be needed in high-development areas.

Currently, 17 schools are in planning and development stages across the region, including six special schools and a secondary school campus expansion in Springfield, which are expected to be delivered.

The Department of Education said it would need 47 sites just in the Ripley Valley and Greater Flagstone Priority Development Areas (PDAs) – in Ipswich and Logan, respectively.

The state opened two new schools at the beginning of 2025 in the south-east out of an originally planned five, and was not expecting to open any more schools until 2027.

Mountford said the state, independent, and Catholic sectors needed to work together to meet enrolment demand, but pressures were mounting for non-state schools to find and fund new sites.

The ISQ report found independent-sector schools were finding “virtually no sites left” for traditional sprawling school grounds in rapidly densifying parts of the south-east, and schools would either have to downsize, build vertically, or reuse existing buildings.

Concept designs for a “big box” retail store repurposed as a school.

Report author Suburban Futures suggested dividing a “big box” warehouse-style retail building into two stories with about 20 classrooms on each level, and turning carparks into modest playing fields.

In an office tower, the designs made use of 11 stories, and suggested using basement carpark levels as community office space, to help drive down costs for the school.

“The way that these particular models were put together was through ensuring they were retrofitted to be 100 per cent fit-for-purpose, modern schools,” Mountford said.

He urged the state to consider new funding partnership with independent schools, “including low-cost government-backed loans until schools are viable and land tax and other concessions”.

Suburban Future modelling suggested converting carparks into green space for a converted Bunnings Warehouse school design.

With designs including additional facilities such as resources centres, amphitheatres, and laboratories, the report estimated the repurposed buildings would cost between $88.4 million and $105.7 million, and take more than two years to build.

Brisbane’s two new vertical state schools, Brisbane South State Secondary College and Fortitude Valley State Secondary College, cost the state $153.78 million and $143 million, respectively.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said the department was also working closely to help schools in densifying suburban and urban areas to meet enrolment growth, prioritising “schools experiencing enrolment pressure due to in-catchment growth”.

Concept designs for an office tower refurbished as a school spread a P-12 school across 11 storeys.

“This includes growing existing schools and opening new schools,” the spokeswoman said.

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