Despite the school being due to open in 2024,the government in March this year scrapped the plan,and said the $90 million school was “not required as soon as anticipated”.
Tender documents published this week reveal the department now believed a new primary school would be required to relieve enrolment pressure in existing inner-west school catchments from 2028 or 2029.
After the department could not find a suitable location,options suggested to the private sector in the Registration of Interest document include the supply of land only with the school built by the department,or the land and school could be delivered by a private party,possibly as a vertical school if the land size was small.
Another option was repurposing existing facilities or structures into a school.
The school,and potentially the site,could also be made available to the department on a leased basis for an agreed term to provide “flexibility for the market”,the documents said.
While favourable consideration would be given to a site within the existing Indooroopilly,Toowong or Ironside schools’ existing catchments,it could also potentially be built “adjacent” to the inner-west primary school network.