THE construction project at Baimbridge College has been nearing completion in the last few weeks, as staff have already begun moving desks and equipment into the new buildings.

With the ‘soft’ handover to the school’s administration taking place this week, the final details were being rendered and Nicholson Construction project manager, Mick Page said he was happy to see everything looking and functioning the way it should.

“The school really needs this building,’ he said.

“We’re giving them something that we know will be used for the next 20 to 50 years.

“It’s good to hand (it) over.”

Mr Page said whilst the new building hadn’t been significantly demanding in its technical design, the project had been delayed somewhat by some difficulties sourcing materials and the occasional worker subjected to COVID-19 isolation.

“It’s had its challenges,” he said.

“A lot of manufacturer’s lead times all blew out.

“Subcontractors were unable to attend, (which meant) restricted numbers.

“We had multiple contractors that caught COVID and then it was either seven days or 14 days isolation.”

With the ‘hard’ handover expected next week when students are absent, the construction site fences will all come down and Baimbridge College principal, Warwick Price said he was looking forward to the official opening early in Term 2.

He said staff were going through various occupational health and safety protocols with directions to move out of their current offices and classrooms “to know what’s going to go where”, and the beginning of normal school operations in the new building was finally in sight.

“At some stage next term there’ll be an official opening,” Mr Price said.

“We've had to just postpone it until we're actually in there and making sure that everything's working.

“But we’ll actually hopefully be in – in that last week, which is the fourth to the eighth (of April).”

However, the moving-in process will not quite be the end of contractors at Baimbridge, with some bulldozing of older buildings scheduled for the middle of the year.

“There's also going to be significant demolition,” he said.

“That'll happen, probably in the June/July holiday period, on both the east campus, and the decanted west campus buildings.”

Mr Price said he was grateful for the hard work of the builders, given the hurdles they had to overcome, and their attention to detail.

“They’re just making sure the painting’s done properly, cleaning bricks, landscaping is complete, drains clear and operational … getting those last things done,” he said.

“It’s exciting that we’re getting close.

“Overcoming all of the issues that have presented the last 18 months, and our vision is finally starting to become a reality, which is great news for all of our community, students and staff.

“The way it's linking from some of the existing buildings to the new buildings, it's really quite clever.

“We just can’t wait to get inside the new facilities.”