Constructing Communities: Greater Shepparton Secondary College

After two years of construction, one of Victoria’s most advanced and largest ‘super schools’, Greater Shepparton Secondary College (GSSC), officially opened in 2022.

With 2,223 children enrolled at the time of opening, the college was Victoria’s largest high school campus in a few years, thanks to its 2,700 student capacity and innovative facilities.

“Greater Shepparton Secondary College is a pioneering facility that raises the bar for education construction.”

– Tom Cumming, Senior Project Manager.

“Its three ‘neighbourhoods’, double gymnasium and Enterprise and Innovation Centre presented a number of complex challenges, including a fast tracked timeline to accommodate students in 2022. Delivering the project at this speed required advanced construction practices and close relationships with client and stakeholders,” adds Mr Cumming.

With more than 300 people working on the project at the height of construction, Hansen Yuncken was able to engage local contractors like Shepparton based Watters Electrical, to educate 95 local trainees and apprentices during the project.

“It’s important to us that we add to local financial and knowledge economies. The skills our local partners have earned with us will stay in Shepparton and help inform future construction in the area.”

– Tom Cumming, Senior Project Manager.

Beyond developing the local construction industry, Hansen Yuncken was also able to create opportunities to employ residents living with disability, to plant beautiful established trees across the site.

Social enterprise ConnectGV, which supports employment opportunities for people living with disabilities, was brought on board to help fill 3 positions through its Billabong Garden Complex initiative. The money paid to ConnectGV for the project has since allowed them to provide meaningful long-term employment for workers within their nursery complex.

With staff from Hansen Yuncken, local subcontractors and client teams working on one site, COVID safety precautions were a high priority. Hansen Yuncken partnered with Incolink to deliver twice weekly Rapid Antigen Testing on site, which also helped ease the burden on local health services. This, along with a number of allied precautions, earned the team a COVID-19 Gold Standard Accreditation.

“Despite the behemoth scale of the new campus, I have heard various members of the team remark that it has been one of the cleanest construction sites they have ever worked on,” said Mr Cumming. “This is testament to a huge team effort across the board to take the COVID-19 situation, and the health and safety of one another, seriously. The entire team should feel very proud.”

Having operated in Shepparton for 97 years, Hansen Yuncken has deep roots in the community, making the GSSC project particularly significant to its team, said Site Manager, Graeme ‘Spanner’ Spence:

“I’ve lived in Shepparton all my life and went to South Tech’s McGuire Campus as a kid. My wife and two daughters also went to Shepparton High and now my grandson will go to Greater Shepparton Secondary College. It’s an honour to have helped build this amazing new school for him and his classmates,” he said.

Working for a company that gives back at a local level was important to Mr Spence, who has been involved in building Victorian communities from the ground up, including council, hospital and farming developments, along with bushfire rebuilding efforts.

“Like so many communities, Shepparton has been doing it tough during the pandemic. It was rewarding to be part of a business that supports local causes,” adds Mr Spence.

Since 2020, Hansen Yuncken has donated $10,000 to Shepparton Foodshare to bring food to the tables of local families living in isolation. A 1,270 litre freezer, worth more than $8,000, was also provided to the Greater Shepparton Lighthouse Project to support their work with youth facing food insecurity. The team is also working through providing a secure area for Mooroopna Life Church’s emergency housing for victims of domestic violence.

“The GSSC project highlights Hansen Yuncken’s commitment to not only deliver complex projects but also the team’s dedication to supporting, and engaging, local communities.”

– Tom Cumming, Senior Project Manager.

“The Greater Shepparton Secondary College is a pioneering facility that will help shape the future of Shepparton. It does so with a built in legacy of upskilling local construction professionals, providing jobs for people living with disability and helping families and youths in need,” Mr Cumming concludes.