Peel Health and Community Training Centre
Project Details
Architects
Gresley Abas
Address
Challenger Institute of Technology Education Drive Greenfields Mandurah , WA 6210 Australia
Submitter
Tanya Jones
Cost
$4285000
Photographer
Ben Price
Project Overview
Working within a densely-populated campus, our planning response interrogated the relationship of the new building to other campus buildings. The western campus entry provides a poetic, framed approach to the new building. The carefully planned and beautifully landscaped courtyard, also on the main north-south campus corridor, has become a vibrant and well-used space and our buildings forecourt.
The prominence of the buildings western facade within this significant site led to the development of the perforated screen, both to protect the building from sun and wind, but also to create individuality in a stylistically diverse campus.
A range of technologies for the teaching of health services disciplines include SimMan interface and high bandwidth remote learning facilities to allow remote nursing students to interact with a real-life hospital ward through video-conferencing.
Challenger Institute of Technology sought to establish a Health and Community Services Education Centre at their Peel facility on the Peel Education Campus to meet the Peel region ‘s growing demand for skilled health and community services workers. This project was Stage 1 of what is to be a two-stage, $12M facility and involved the provision of learning spaces for the teaching of subjects such as Children ‘s Services, Nursing, First Aid and Aged Care.
Gresley Abas were engaged to carry out full architectural services and worked very closely with a range of stakeholders to deliver an exciting building which balances functionality with pedagogical outcomes and sustainability, with utmost professionalism. Confronted with a challenging site location which included a steep easterly drop-off to natural bushland and an adjacent main campus corridor, Gresley Abas took the opportunity to deliver a planning response which created a range of spaces for students of both the new building, as well as other students. The centre and the associated landscaping complement the existing building infrastructure, creating a new focus for challenger Institute within the campus. The open layout, with the central atrium makes the centre feel fresh, bright and considerably larger than it actually is. It has transformed the previously underutilised Discovery Court into a vibrant and welcoming central hub which is proving to be very popular with b oth staff and students.
The facility has allowed the Challenger Institute of Technology to raise the bar with regards to the excellent health and community services training already offered by challenger Institute. This training included flexible delivery programs, work placement and Recognition of Prior Learning and has been delivered to around 1700 students each year.
Welcoming its first students at the start of the 2015 academic year, the Health and Community Services Training centre which was funded by the WA Government ‘s Royalties for Regions Program through the Skills Training Initiative, has not only successfully delivered a fantastic modern and practical training environment but has also manages to breathe new life into the campus.
