Powering the new-look Katherine High School
We were delighted to head up the building services’ design team for Katherine High School’s recently completed refurbishment. Located south of Darwin and featuring a fully refurbished Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts and Mathematics (STEAM) centre, our electrical engineering helped equip the new and refurbished spaces for future-focused learning.
The completion of the Katherine High School’s refurbishment marks a major milestone for our Darwin office, who joined the project team pre-COVID.
Led by Ashburner Francis Associate David Marek, our Darwin team was responsible for the design and documentation of all electrical services at the school’s two refurbished buildings — which now accommodate new General Learning Areas (GLAs), science labs, music rooms, art studios, a gallery, and a new communal stair presentation area. We also oversaw the work of sub-consultants, Building Services Group and Major Consultancy, who undertook all of the project’s mechanical and hydraulic engineering.
Ashburner Francis designed and documented electrical services including
Lighting and C-BUS lighting control systems
Power Dry fire
Communications Security CCTV
Access Control Public Address
Hearing Augmentation
Katherine High School – Image courtesy of Allen Story
A key consideration for the STEAM centre’s science labs was the inclusion of emergency buttons to instantly cut power if needed. Meanwhile, the refurbished buildings also required upgraded switchboards and communications racks, together with new cabling.
As part of the project, the existing Main Switchboard (MSB) was also upgraded to support the new refurbishments and future growth of the school. To make way for the new MSB — measuring over five metres wide — a door and wall were removed and replaced with new 2.4m double doors to provide easy access.
Ashburner Francis also designed and documented the new wall-mounted hearing augmentation systems throughout the learning spaces — to assist hearing-impaired students and educators.
Architects MODE (responsible for designing the projects’ interiors and exteriors) integrated linear LED strip lighting throughout the interiors. In line with their vision, we also designed a series of curved extrusions to complement the look and feel of each learning space and adjoining corridors.
MODE’s Associate Director, Joe Shanahan, praised the approach. “Ashburner Francis did a great job of designing custom lighting for feature bulkheads and recessed areas — the result integrates really well with our overall design.”
This latest project follows on from a series of earlier collaborations between MODE and Ashburner Francis. “This is one of the larger-scale projects we’ve done with Ashburner Francis in the Northern Territory and their performance was really good. I often recommend them for management of building services design —having that one point of contact, with the necessary expertise, makes my life a lot easier!”
This project expands upon Ashburner Francis’ and David Marek’s significant portfolio of work in the Darwin education sector. Among David’s long list of past projects are refurbishments for Darwin High School and Wulagi Primary School, additional facilities for Stuart Park Primary School and Girraween Primary School, as well as lighting upgrades for Charles Darwin Universities’ Casuarina and Palmerston campuses.