It is rewarding to see the TAFE NSW Padstow campus open to students, with refurbished Buildings A and C and new campus-wide external works now in use.
Working with TAFE NSW, project manager Capital Insight and builder RCCI, we transformed existing facilities into specialised simulated learning environments and flexible learning studios with contemporary AV, IT and building services. Building A, a large steel framed industrial shed once used for automotive training, was refurbished to accommodate Animal Care and Veterinary Nursing. Students start at a simulated veterinary clinic and move through an operating theatre with a preparation room and wet lab, radiology and pathology labs, and a grooming room. An animal house with indoor and outdoor enclosures and storage supports daily animal handling.
Building C delivers early childhood education, including a simulated early learning centre with associated reception, simulated indoor and outdoor play areas and amenities, alongside a series of shared general learning studios and computer labs.
Within the large portal frame steel structure of Building A, the specialist labs and learning spaces were delivered using XFrame demountable partition systems. The fully engineered, prefabricated kit of parts allowed us to insert a series of thermally conditioned rooms without touching the existing envelope and structure, allowing us to retain the volume and character of the original industrial shed.
The kit-of-parts approach also supported a compressed construction timeline, so the spaces could be operational for term time, while simplifying coordination and installation on site.
Beyond speed, the system supports long-term adaptability. Rooms can be reconfigured or relocated as teaching requirements evolve, and the approach significantly reduces upfront carbon emissions compared with traditional fitout methods, part of our wider commitment to sustainability.
The result is a highly rationalised application of demountable systems in a tertiary education setting, and an approach we see real value in across our learning and tertiary education work, where buildings need to adapt to changing ways of teaching over a long life.
Katherine Tracey, Senior Associate, fjcstudio
