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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Sarah Lansdown

Private school did not get approval for demountable classrooms

A Canberra private school has been issued a stop work notice for not seeking building approval for two demountable classrooms installed in July.

Brindabella Christian College was issued a stop work notice on August 10 after Access Canberra received an anonymous complaint about three constructions on its Lyneham campus.

The person complained about a lack of public notification for a new two-storey classroom, a covered walkway and two demountable buildings that may have been encroaching on the Brigalow Street public boundary.

An ACT government spokeswoman said there were no breaches relating to the two-storey building and covered walkway and the two demountable buildings were not encroaching on the boundary.

However, the demountable classrooms did not have building approval.

"The Notice requires that a new building approval be issued before any further building work is undertaken," the spokeswoman said.

"While Access Canberra understands that building work had been undertaken in respect of the demountable buildings, the stop work notice will prevent any work being done without the proper approvals.

"Access Canberra understands the two demountable buildings referred to have recently been transported to the school premises and are not connected to services or being used."

An Education Directorate spokesperson said the school was not in breach of national regulations for early education around access to outdoor space by placing the demountables near the early learning centre playground.

"[Children's Education and Care Assurance] has visited the early childhood education and care service, including since the issuing of the stop work notice," the directorate spokesman said.

"The early childhood education and care service is not currently in breach of the national regulations, and CECA is working with the provider to ensure that there continues to be sufficient outdoor space for the children enrolled."

Demountable buildings being installed at Brindabella Christian College's Lyneham campus in July. Picture supplied

The school's board chair Greg Zwajgenberg did not directly answer a question about whether the stop work notice regarding the two demountable classrooms was still in place.

He said the ACT government had apologised for incorrectly applying the stop work notice to the new two-storey building and retracted the notice.

"The disruptions due to these senseless 'anonymous' complaints carry a serious cost to the operation of the College. Sadly, the officers investigating are exceptional and the ACT government has no choice but to investigate, the latest 'anonymous complaint' was a supposed inflatable pool at our Lyneham ELC," he said.

"What then becomes an issue is that when you stop all trades from attending a site they then move to other work. So we will advise the opening of the new two-storey wing shortly."

Separately, Access Canberra is also investigating demountable buildings on the south eastern border of the Lyneham campus.

Approval for a maintenance shed was granted in 2017, however the site is currently occupied by demountable classrooms.

Building approval documents from a 2016 construction show the approval was granted on the condition that some existing demountable classrooms would be disconnected from utilities.

"As this is an active investigation, no further information can be provided at this stage," the government spokeswoman said.

Mr Zwajgenberg said WorkSafe officers had inspected the demountable classrooms on the south eastern border and found one electrical cable without a test and tag label.

"Again we were the subject of an 'anonymous' complaint that we were educating students in sub-standard conditions in two demountables that were moved to the south-west corner of the College when we built our Sports and Performing Arts Complex," he said.

"All the complaint did was to ensure we reinforced our policy on equipment cabling throughout the College."

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