A NEW high school in Lakelands will be built and maintained by a private company as part of the $370million Public Private Partnership (PPP) program.
The school is set to open in 2019 and will include an administration block, an information resource centre, four general-use classroom blocks, science laboratories, a lecture theatre, food and textiles studios and computing labs.
The facility will cater for performing and visual arts, dance, media studies and a football oval, hockey/soccer field, hard courts and a fitness centre will also be included.
An Education Support School with classrooms, a therapy pool, a gymnasium and a staff area is included in the development.
Education Minister Peter Collier said private companies could now register their interest in the project, before the November 5 cut-off date.
“The PPP is a very different way of building and maintaining school facilities,” Mr Collier said.
“The schools will be owned by the State Government and the Department of Education will be responsible for all educational services.
“A private company will design and build the schools and then maintain them over a 25-year period.
“In addition, the company will finance the design and construction.”
Treasurer Mike Nahan said construcing high-quality facilities was the aim of PPPs.
“We want to get the best value for the huge investment we are making in public school infrastructure,” Dr Nahan said.
The private company would be responsible for managing aspects of the facility such as gardening, cleaning, waste disposal, security and utilities management.
“The Government does not commence payment until each school is operational and we can deduct payments if performance measures are not achieved,” Mr Collier said.
“This will be a strong incentive for the company to deliver high quality schools on time and within budget, and ensure that ongoing maintenance is performed to a high standard.”
PPPs have been previously used to construct schools in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia.
Four public primary schools and three other high schools across the state will be constructed under this model as part of the State Government’s four-year, $1.16billion investment to public schools.