The school is on a hill adjacent to Bellevue Park, overlooking Rose Bay and Sydney Harbour to the north, and Bondi Beach and the Pacific Ocean to the east. It is housed in a double story brick building built in 1924—challenging our team to maximise the built environment envelope for playground space while maintaining the heritage of the site. Equipping students to excel requires a learning environment design that fosters curiosity, encourages growth and development. Good design also enables teaching communities to deliver across a spectrum of teaching styles. Redeveloping an existing school site draws on this plus creativity to leverage the most from the space available and topography constraints.

After we completed an Educational Principles study with New Learning Environments, our project team prepared alternative concept design options for Bellevue Hill Public School. The DEC Project Steering Committee endorsed these principles to guide the preparation of alternative design concepts for the proposed accommodation.

The preferred design provides a strong integrated extension of the teaching spaces on all levels. The spaces contribute greatly to the learning environment and are flexible, allowing customisation to suit the range of learning styles and teaching methods practised in the school. Site conditions, area availability, terrain, and landscaping influenced the design significantly and led to a four-level proposal that minimises ground-level work, reduces playground area, and removes trees. The upper levels are similar in layout and integrate smoothly with the teaching spaces of the existing school.

Schools Infrastructure NSW regards the design as an ideal model. It reflects our expertise in delivering live-environment school projects, mitigating risks, and ensuring uninterrupted learning for students and staff.