Garran Primary School’s original architect, Roger Pegrum, and the architect of the redevelopment, Eilish McNab. Photo: James Coleman.
Garran Primary School was the Woden town centre before the Woden town centre was little more than a twinkle in a designer’s eye.
“This was an open plain; there weren’t many trees here,” Roger Pegrum, its original architect recalls.
“I was three years a graduate at the Department of Works, and they were going to build this new place called Woden to expand Canberra. It would be a whole new town.”
Accordingly, his school design also had to have room for a doctor’s office. And a dentist surgery, and a community hall.
“The school was the only building in the suburb – it was here before all the houses – so it had a room, so if a doctor wanted to set up a room, he could, and a dentist,” Pegrum says.
“It was a lot more than a school. It was part of a community. People would go to the school for things other than dropping off their children. It was the place they met.”
The first stage was officially opened by Education Minister Yvette Berry this week. Photo: James Coleman.
That was 1965. This week, 60 years later, the first stage of a new Garran Primary School has opened – a $107.85 million “expansion and modernisation project” that includes new classrooms, junior and senior libraries, a dedicated science, technology, engineering, arts and maths (STEAM) laboratory, and the first “rooftop garden” of any ACT public school.
“This is a school built for the future of Woden,” ACT Education minister Yvette Berry announced.
“This new campus delivers modern, inclusive and sustainable learning spaces designed in collaboration with the school community. The natural-light classrooms will boost students’ wellbeing and facilitate positive outcomes, while the libraries and STEAM lab will help students reach their full potential.”
The next stage, due to be completed by late 2026, will add a double gymnasium, new canteen, music and drama spaces, outdoor play areas, hard courts, further landscaping and 80 additional parking spaces (including EV charging).
All up, the school will be able to cater for up to 975 students across preschool to Year 6, a sizable jump on its current capacity of 600 students, and well above the circa-400 in Pegrum’s day.
In a planning report published in November 2022, the government was told of the need for “increased student capacity in the Woden Valley”, singling out Garran as the area bearing the brunt of a growing population.
“By 2024, four of the seven schools in the Woden Valley will exceed the optimal capacity utilisation of 85 per cent, with two exceeding their capacity by 2028,” it reads.
“Garran Primary School is currently operated at a utilisation rate of 95 per cent.”
A framed photo collage of the original school. Photo: James Coleman.
The report also noted the presence of “hazardous materials”, including lead-based paint and asbestos, as reasons it was overdue for an upgrade.
“It is necessary to replace the existing infrastructure rather than refurbish the school buildings.”
But some elements from Pegrum’s original design remain, like the central courtyard.
“Bearing in mind Woden was an open plain, it was nice to have a garden within the school as spaces kids could weave in and out of,” Pegrum says.
Garran Primary School’s new courtyard is inspired by the old. Photo: James Coleman.
Pegrum’s plans were bigger than Garran.
“The government said to me at the time, ‘Don’t keep designing different schools. We want one we can use again’. So Garran’s school was repeated at the next suburb, and the next. Hughes, and across the valley, they just changed the roof and the colours of the bricks.”
Eilish McNab, from the local architecture firm Hayball, designed the new school, and while she didn’t meet Pegrum during the process, she was “inspired” by his work.
“Garran Primary is really well loved by staff and students – it’s really iconic – and so one of the key briefs given to us was to keep this spirit of the old school. So the idea was to keep that central heart of the school so students could meet together as well as learn,” McNab says.
As a nod to its history, Canberra red bricks from a since-demolished building have been used as a feature of the site’s new hall. And those stripes of different colours in the metalwork and signage? That’s a combination of the theme colours for the school’s different areas.
“I spoke to the children, and they really like it,” McNab says.
“They like that it’s similar to their old school, but much bigger, so they can still find their way around. It’s a change, but hopefully not too much of a change.”
The Garran school redevelopment is included in an $800 million package of improvements the government will roll out across the ACT’s public schools over the next three years.
Ms Berry had a message for those parents looking on and wondering when their school might be next.
“It’s a growing area, Woden. We’ve got higher density happening in the town centre, a new hospital being built,” she said.
“Everybody will want a school like this, and I absolutely understand that … We can’t do every school upgrade or build new schools at once, but we’re certainly working with our school communities … to make sure these schools are fit for purpose.”
