How is an emergency vehicle driveway built at a school?

Build it like a short private road. An emergency vehicle driveway needs a pavement strong enough for the vehicle, gates that keep the school secure on every other day, and a crossing onto the council road, which needs its own approval.

Monument built a new emergency vehicle driveway at Edgeware School in Hurlstone Park, as part of a whole-of-school landscape and civil works project.

The route

The design starts with where the vehicle has to reach and how it gets back out. Turning room, the width at the gate and overhead clearance under branches and awnings all come from the size of the vehicle, so the route is drawn with that vehicle in mind before anything is priced.

On a school, this route usually has to thread between existing buildings, services and play areas, so underground services get located early.

The pavement

Asphalt laid for students walking to class will not carry a fire truck for long. A driveway for heavy vehicles needs the right ground preparation, a proper base and a surface designed for that load.

Falls and drainage belong in the same design, since water left sitting under a pavement is what breaks it up. The same thinking applies to any heavy route on a site, as covered in carpark and hardstand works.

Gates and fencing

A new driveway puts a new opening in the school's boundary. The gates have to open quickly for emergency services, stay shut the rest of the time, and leave no gap a student could slip through.

The fence line around them is often rebuilt in the same package. More on that work is in school fencing and security upgrades.

The council crossing

The point where the driveway joins the street sits on council land. Monument engaged with the local council for the road-opening permits on this work at Edgeware School, and it handles those approvals on the client's behalf.

How that permit works is explained in what a road opening permit is. The application should go in early, because digging at the boundary cannot start without it.

The build with the school open

Edgeware School's project was staged so the school kept operating safely. Machinery next to students calls for secure fencing and full-time supervision that spots every plant movement.

The existing emergency access has to keep working the whole time. The old route stays open until the new one is finished and proven, so the school is never left without a way in.

Similar work

At Yates Avenue Public School in Dundas Valley, Monument built a new accessible drop-off zone and driveway, with new security fencing and gates and the council approvals handled for the client. That project is covered in how an accessible drop-off zone and driveway is built.

See our work