A $40 million PERFORM building has been approved for the Christ Church Grammar School Claremont Campus

The Goal

Christ Church Grammar School intents to develop a new state-of-the-art performing arts centre on its main school campus. The building, which is designed by With_Architecture, faced some complex design challenges, including building height limits and Swan River Trust requirements.

Our Role

TBB was engaged by the School’s Project Lead, Total Project Management, to provide strategic input into the design process, assess compliance against the local planning scheme and other legislative requirements, and to ultimately navigate the complex Development Assessment pathway involving both the Town of Claremont and Western Australian Planning Commission (dual approval requirements given proximity to the Metropolitan Region Scheme Parks and Recreation Reserve).

In particular, the unique scheme provisions relating to education establishments has required a focussed approach involving both legal interpretation and innovative thinking.

An important part of TBB’s work has been the understanding of the dynamics of the school community, student movements, traffic and parking operations, and the broader long-term objectives for the campus masterplan.

The Outcome

TBB successfully convinced the Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) to remove a condition that was recommending the entire building be lowered by almost 3m, and for a proposed green space to be replaced by more car parking. Ultimately, the JDAP was satisfied that the buildings siting, scale and overall design would not give rise to any amenity issues as viewed from the public realm, and agreed with TBB for key view lines to be maintained through the School in an effort to retain a park-like appearance. Given the significant scale of the building (est. at $40-50 million), a 4-year Approval timeframe was secured to allow sufficient time for capital and project logistics to mobilise.

PERFORM will be a place where creativity is celebrated and fostered through music, drama, dance and oration. It will be a home for teaching and learning of performance, well-being and ethics – a dedicated place to building the inner man.