How is a school staffroom or administration building refurbished?

The administration building is the one part of a school that cannot stop. The front office takes calls, signs in visitors, looks after sick children and handles every late arrival. The staffroom is where teachers prepare, meet and take their breaks.

A refurbishment of either has to work around people who are still there.

What these projects usually cover

School administration buildings are part of Monument's fit out and refurbishment work. A typical scope can include new wall, ceiling and floor linings, an updated reception, refurbished offices, staff amenities and new joinery.

Some projects add a function the school did not have before. At Fairvale Public School, Monument delivered a staffroom and a uniform shop as a design and construct project, taking on both the design and the build. How that model works is explained in does Monument do design and construct.

Keeping the front office working

The front office is the school's link to parents and the public, and it is a safety point. Visitors are checked in there and children are collected there.

So the office is either kept running in place, with the work staged around it, or moved to a temporary space that works before the old one closes. A temporary office needs phones, data, a secure counter and a clear path for visitors. Setting that up properly first is what stops a refurbishment becoming a daily problem for the principal.

Working while staff are in the building

At Como West Public School, Monument completed the staff amenities during normal operating hours. Work like that depends on keeping the work area sealed off from the rest of the building, keeping noise down at the times staff need quiet, and making sure there are always working toilets for staff somewhere on site.

The school calendar shapes the plan too. Reporting periods, parent nights and exams are times when the office and staffroom are at their busiest. The approach to those weeks is covered in working during exams and sensitive periods.

Joinery is a big part of the result

Most of what staff touch every day in these rooms is joinery. Kitchen benches in the staffroom, the reception counter, storage, shelving and the fit-out of a uniform shop.

Getting it right means measuring on site, agreeing details with the school early and making it off site so the time inside the building is short. The detail on that is in joinery and built-in furniture in schools.

Holidays for the loud work

Demolition, cutting and work on services are best done when nobody is in the building. Larger scopes are often split so the disruptive parts run in the school holidays and the finishing work runs in term.

That split is planned before the job starts, because a holiday window is fixed and cannot be extended once it is missed.

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