Somerville House Construction Update No. 41 - Welcome Back Edition
Happy New Year to the Somerville House Community and what a year it is shaping up to be.
The Junior School and Boarding House are ready for business for the first day of School with only minor activities to complete the building such as the roof over the western terrace (outside the tuckshop) etc. These activities will take place on weekends throughout February and we will advise you of these activities in coming weeks. Next week we will also add to our construction photo gallery on our website to bring you the latest photos of the work that has been occuring over the break while also bringing you up to date with the latest progress of our new Junior School Library and Clinic, as well as Stage 2 of our existing construction project. This update, however, is focussed on the changes to Graham Streeet and Stephens Road and how these will impact (positively we hope) on our parents and students.
So what can you expect when you return to Graham Street?
Anybody who has driven down Graham Street recently would think we had wound the clock back 12 months with diggers of all shapes and sizes on every corner. One glance up beside VPAC, however, reminds us of how far we have progressed in those 12 months and that the work being carried out now is the ongoing development of history in the making in our precinct. The hive of activity these past weeks has involved a collaborative effort by the three major constractors in our precinct working on the stormwater drain running below Graham Street, amongst other activities. Such activities of course have been carried out during the holiday period with all teams working very hard to ensure that this work does not interfere with students returning to School.
Our neighbours have been busy...
As we highlighted in our very first Construction Update last year, we would be seeing history made before our eyes. When you return next Wednesday, you will see Craig Hall boarded up with the footpath being completely removed on this side of Graham Street. The site of the old South Bank/Mater Motel is now 'site office city' for the many different contractors working on the Queensland Children's Hospital (QCH) and the Mater Car Park has had a couple of storeys shaved off it since we finished up last year. Demolition of the Mater Car Park will continue throughout February with scaffolding surrounding this project as the car park levels come down one by one.
New cul-de-sac...
Graham Street itself has also changed shape with a cul-de-sac now at the end of the street providing a roundabout for motorists to be able to turn around in Graham Street without having to go into our Student Set Down Loop.
Traffic Controllers...
Without doubt, one of our favourite parts of coming into Graham Street last year, was the friendly smile and assistance we enjoyed by our traffic controllers. Sadly, they have now gone. There is still traffic control in Graham Street, however, it is under the control of Abigroup, the contractors for the QCH.
Traffic Calming - our new School Crossing...
While we do not have our own traffic controllers any more, we do have a shiny new School Crossing at the top of Graham Street which will become the only place students will be able to cross Graham Street. Please note, that this is not a Pedestrian Crossing - that is, it does not have the 'zebra' lines across it. These lines can lull students into thinking that cars will automatically stop for them and as we know this is not necessarily the case. As a School Crossing, it has an elevated footpath extended onto the road as a traffic calming measure and to show that students are waiting to cross. The onus is on the pedestrians to wait until it is safe to cross and we will have a staff member supervising this in the morning and afternoon peak periods. While motorists are not obliged to stop, we urge parents to please stop if you see students are waiting to cross.
What does this mean for traffic on Graham Street?
For motorists...
With hoarding now in front of Craig Hall right up to the edge of the road, this side of Graham Street is now completely a no stopping, no parking, no drop off, no pedestrian zone. This has always been a 'common' drop off point for students, however, now this will be impossible to even attempt. Therefore, dropping off students in Graham Street can now only occur in the Student Set Down Loop (at the top of Graham Street) or in front of VPAC.
For pedestrians...
With the new school crossing, students will need to consider their path to Somerville House as pedestrians. As the upper end of Graham Street (between Raymond Terrace and the Set Down Loop) is now the only place students can cross Graham Street, we urge all students using the Mater Bus Station to walk up Raymond Terrace past the Mater instead of walking along Stanley Street. The corner of Graham and Vulture Streets is not a safe place to cross which leaves Raymond Terrace as the only possible path from the bus station. If students do walk along Stanley Street, they will need to continue up Vulture Street to cross at the lights near the Chapel and then walk back to Graham Street or continue up to Stephens Road. We urge you to speak to your daughters about a safe pedestrian path and encourage them to use Raymond Terrace if they are walking from that direction.
We can't forget Stephens Road
There is one major change to Stephens Road which we have requested to try to deter parents from arriving early to secure their parking position to wait for their daughters. Traditionally Stephens Road has been a 10 minute zone on the School side with a small 2 minute pick up area. This 10 minute area has now been made into a 2 minute drop-off/pick-up zone now right to the corner of Stephens Road and Vulture Streets to extend the pick up area and hopefully ensure this works more effectively as a pick up area rather than a car park. If you want to be additionally sure you won't need to drive around the block and you can pick up your daughter without duelling with other parents, we urge Middle and Senior School parents to delay pick up an extra 5 or 10 minutes in the busiest time of the afternoon. We guarantee this will relieve any stress traditionally associated with picking up in Stephens Road.
Guidelines for Keeping our Community Safe and Ensuring a Stress-Free 2010
- Please use Student Set Down Loop, outside VPAC or Stephens Road in the way they are intended to be used - that is as drop off and pick up points only. One car parking in any of these areas will spoil it for everybody else. We urge you to consider other members of the School community.
- Please use cul-de-sac or Set Down Loop to turn in Graham Street (u-turns are dangerous and illegal).
- Do not stop or attempt to drop your daughter off on the opposite side of Graham Street.
- Please do not use the driveway (bottom, the middle outside Technology Services or the top) as a drop off or pick up point for your daughters - this is to be used only for music students with large instruments as permitted by music staff.
- No walking through the old set down loop - this will soon be a construction site with early works soon to get underway.
- Please stop for students wishing to cross the road at the top of Graham Street.
Somerville House Construction Hotline
As was the case last year, we encourage parents to provide feedback or report any issues you witness with any of these changes on Graham Street or Stephens Road. This feedback was instrumental in the success we enjoyed last year as we were able to deal with parent feedback very quickly and use it to further enhance the safety of our students, staff and parents. The Construction Hotline number is (07) 3248 9272 or you can email dev-office@somerville.qld.edu.au. While the traffic controllers are not our own, we do encourage parents to provide feedback on them also via this Hotline.
Welcome Back!
Thank you for once again for helping make our students safe and for considering other members of the Somerville House community. We have a big year ahead with construction of the QCH gearing up. Further information on this will be included in our update next week. In the meantime, welcome back and please take care to keep yourselves and our students safe.
Looking forward to seeing you all return next week.
The Somerville House Project Control Group.
