Fleetwood Australia delivers stunning transformation for flood-affected Queensland school

Fleetwood Australia’s Queensland team, in partnership with QBuild and the Department of Education, mobilised a skilled emergency flood relief team to provide new portable school buildings at Rocklea State School. Amazingly, this herculean feat was pulled off in just two and a half weeks!

Rocklea state school

Severe flooding in early February left the school buildings severely damaged, requiring them to be demolished and rebuilt. Students were relocated to nearby schools to continue learning while the work began on their own school grounds to prepare for their return.

The emergency classrooms have been installed on the school oval, using raised blade pile footings to combat the flood affected soil. The 18-module structure was craned onto site in only two days, as the emergency team raced against the clock to have the classrooms ready for students to return in Term 2.

Fun fact: these high-quality classrooms are the very same structures that came to the rescue at Upper Mount Gravatt State School, after a devastating fire gutted eight classrooms in 2019. The buildings feature:

• 4 x classrooms
• administration block, including:
  • staffroom
  • Kitchen
  • wellbeing hub
  • P&C office
  • first aid room
• covered bridge
• 70 metres of covered walkways; and
• amenities block.

Crews work through the night to deliver the new school buildings

Signage from the old school buildings were repurposed to welcome back students to familiar surroundings. A full landscaping package has also been delivered on site, including new fencing, carpark, flora and new turf to enhance the natural landscape. Lastly, three new flagpoles – ready for the Torres Strait Islander, Australian and Aboriginal flags – and Anzac memorial were the finishing touches to complete Rocklea’s incredible transformation!

Fleetwood was proud to be able to complete the works in time to welcome back the school community as scheduled on day one of Term 2, 2022.

Rocklea State School Principal Julia Bailey commented, “The Fleetwood team on site are outstanding. Communicative, accommodating, patient yet incredibly efficient. Thank you so much for wrapping your expertise around our beautiful little school.”

These high-quality buildings will house the school community for the next 18 months while the school is rebuilt from the ground up. We look forward to seeing the school community learn, grow and explore in their new learning environments!