New Schools 2025 Bundle A
Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA)
2025
$106M
Tarneit, VIC and Wollert, VIC
Project Details
Overview
Two new schools. Two rapidly growing communities. One coordinated delivery approach creating places to learn, play and connect.
Higgins partnered with the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA) to deliver New Schools 2025 Bundle A, comprising two new Prep-6 campuses in Melbourne’s rapidly growing outer suburbs, Barayip Primary School in Tarneit, and Wirrigirri Primary School in Wollert.
Delivered under a combined Design & Construct contract valued at approximately $106M, the bundle involved the delivery of 12 buildings across two greenfield sites, with both campuses based on a proven template design adapted to respond to the individual conditions and requirements of each location.
Across both schools, Higgins delivered three learning neighbourhoods, administration and library facilities, a community hub incorporating an indoor stadium, an integrated kindergarten, outdoor hardcourts, sports field, playgrounds, extensive landscaping and supporting infrastructure.
While the campus shared a common design language and delivery program, the construction challenges were distinctly different. From an accelerated single stage build at Tarneit to heritage considerations, extensive rock excavations, changing site access and staged delivery at Wollert, our teams adapted their construction methodologies to maintain momentum and ensure both communities could access their new schools as early as possible.
Barayip Primary School
Barayip Primary School was delivered through an intensive 11 month, single-stage construction program, with six new buildings taking shape alongside two hardcourts, a sports oval, five playgrounds, extensive landscaping and staff parking.
Designed to accommodate 650 primary school students, the campus also incorporates an integrated 132 place kindergarten, supporting a smoother transition between early learning and primary education for local families.
Despite close to 80 rain days during 2024 and delays to permanent mains power, our team maintained the accelerated program through proactive resequencing, additional resources, extended hours and weekend works. Generators were connected across the campus to allow commissioning activities to continue while permanent power was being resolved.
Through careful sequencing and acceleration strategies, five buildings were handled over ahead of schedule, giving the school additional time to move in and prepare for its first students before opening in Term 1, 2025.
Barayip Primary School
Wirrigirri Primary School
Wirrigirri Primary School provides capacity for 525 Prep to 6 students, complemented by an integrated 99 place kindergarten designed to make early learning more accessible for local families and support the transition into primary school.
While based on the same template as Barayip PS, Wirrigirri PS site demanded a very different construction response. A heritage dry-stone wall running through the site required careful protection, with Higgins developing an approved demolition and storage methodology before preserving and repurposing the stone within the completed landscaping.
Extensive rock presented another significant challenge. With rock hammering required throughout much of construction, up to 12 machines were mobilised during the early works, allowing structural slabs and critical services trenches to progress in line with the program.
When the planned northern access road was delayed beyond Practical Completion, our team also reworked the original construction methodology, introducing additional haul roads, fast-tracking the community hub structure and retaining areas of the future car park as temporary laydown space.
Following a delayed commencement, the project transitioned to a staged delivery strategy, including temporary facilities that enabled the school to open while the remaining campus was completed around an operational school environment. The remaining works were ultimately completed in July 2025, more than a month ahead of the revised PC date of August 2025.
Wirrigirri Primary School
Both campuses have been designed as community assets, extending their value beyond the classroom.
Indoor stadiums and sporting facilities provide opportunities for use by local sporting clubs, while new sports fields, hardcourts and landscaped spaces add valuable recreational infrastructure to two rapidly growing communities. The integrated kindergartens
further strengthen each campus as a place supporting children and families from their earliest years of education.
Together, Barayip and Wirrigirri Primary Schools demonstrate the efficiencies of a coordinated bundle delivery model without losing sight of the individual needs of each site and community, creating contemporary, flexible learning environments designed to grow alongside the families they serve.