On 24 November, RCP’s North Queensland Manager Dale Steele attended the opening and blessing of the newly completed St Patrick’s College Townsville STEM Learning Hub.
The ceremony started with a Traditional Owner Smoking Ceremony in the new courtyard and was followed by speeches in the Sport Complex.
St Patrick’s College Townsville is an independent Catholic girls’ secondary college, which aims to provide an innovative, inclusive, and positive learning culture designed especially for girls, encouraging them to be creative, collaborative, and reflective.
Designed to inspire and empower generations of young women in North Queensland, the STEM Learning Hub building project will now provide contemporary learning spaces to educate future STEM leaders.
College Principal, Amber Hauff said of the project journey, “It has been a wonderful experience and I feel so blessed to have journeyed together with an incredible project team, consisting of M3 Architecture, RCP and Hutchinson Builders, along with an array of subcontractors and consultants.”
The new STEM Learning Hub features marine science and biology laboratories with purpose-built aquatic tanks and vivaria on the ground level (housing reef fish, sharks, snakes, and other reptiles so students can study local fauna); chemistry and technology laboratories on level 2, and physics and general learning spaces on the top level with spectacular views out to Magnetic Island.
Technology incorporated into the project allows students to engage in project-based collaboration, research ideas and design solutions to complex real-world scenarios. Two fully serviced preparation rooms allow technicians to support integrated STEM instruction. In addition to teaching and learning spaces, the College’s academic hub is relocating to Level 1 to accommodate teaching staff.
The building also features meeting rooms and small tutorial spaces, with arts courtyard that links outdoor areas of the new building to the College’s Visual Arts precinct.
The new STEM Learning Hub also addresses the significant growth of student numbers in recent years providing an additional 11 teaching and learning spaces.
North Qld Manager, Dale Steele said, “It’s been a pleasure to work with St Patrick’s College Townsville, and the greater project team, to successfully deliver the new STEM Hub. This is a quality teaching facility that will enormously benefit students and help them to achieve their goals.”
RCP’s Russell De Barros was responsible for the project management and Mario Youssef provided programming services. Congratulations to all involved!
