The Project

A brownfield redevelopment of an operational special school in Brisbane's south, the Kuraby State Special School Stage 1 project delivers two new permanent buildings — a two-storey Administration and Library and a three-storey General Learning Areas building — within a live school environment. The project is procured under a Design and Construct model with a hard deadline of Term 1, 2028, and the school remains fully operational throughout construction.

The complexity here is not the buildings. It is the sequencing — eleven separable portions, seven school decanting phases, nine temporary and relocated structures, and a programme that cannot allow the number of operational classrooms to fall below seventeen at any point.

Our approach

A live school environment demands a different kind of planning discipline. Every sequencing decision carries a consequence for students and staff — not just for programme. Our approach was to map the dependencies first, then build the programme around them, rather than the other way around.

The engagement began with a thorough identification of key operational and constructability constraints across the existing campus — ensuring the new facilities could be constructed in the shortest possible time while the school remained fully operational and safe throughout.

The staging programme identified four long-lead items requiring immediate Principal action — including a padmount transformer with a 40-week procurement lead time — and flagged that the current programme falls approximately 27 days short of the Term 1, 2028 hard deadline under current settings. We told the client that directly, identified where the recovery needs to come from, and gave them the information they needed to act before tender.

That is what constructability advisory is supposed to do.

Key features of the engagement

Identification of key operational and constructability constraints across the existing campus — ensuring the new facilities could be constructed in the shortest possible time while the school remained fully operational and safe throughout.

An indicative staging programme across eleven separable portions and seven school decanting phases — confirming that the minimum classroom threshold is maintained at every stage of the construction sequence.

Identification of four critical long-lead procurement items, with recommended action dates and consequence mapping if not actioned at contract award.

Four value-for-money opportunities identified — including DoE direct procurement of temporary modular buildings and an ICT migration strategy timed to school holidays — each with a quantified benefit and a clear recommended action.

A full constructability review of the preliminary staging plans across eleven sheets, with mark-up commentary and recommended actions for inclusion in the Principal's Project Requirements.

Our role

Engaged by Donald Cant Watts Corke as Planning Phase Manager on behalf of the Department of Education, bryr. provided constructability advisory and programme development services during the pre-tender phase. This is bryr.'s own work — undertaken since launch in 2026.