New campus to replace Officeworks
An ambitious expansion of St Luke’s Grammar School in Dee Why will increase student numbers by 508 and add two new campuses to create a 30,600sqm footprint.
The $76.3 million development had to be determined by Infrastructure NSW as it was considered a new school of state significance. It will include construction of a sports centre in an existing industrial warehouse at 224 Headland Rd, North Curl Curl, adjacent to the school. The seniors campus for years 10 to 12 will be built at 800 Pittwater Rd, Dee Why, currently home to Officeworks and Fitness First in the heritage-listed Wormald building. The senior campus will incorporate the iconic clocktower and other heritage elements into its final design. A walkway will connect the Headland Rd and Pittwater Rd campuses.
The co-educational Anglican school currently has 1092 students from kindergarten to year 12 at its main Dee Why campus, which will increase to 1,600 progressively.
Once the project is complete, St Luke’s footprint from Headland Rd to the intersection of Pittwater Rd and Harbord Rd will be 30,600sqm. The expansion will be built in three stages, with the sports centre the first to be undertaken, with a basketball court already in place.
While construction of the senior campus can begin in 2025 when the FItness First lease runs out, the final stage will take place in 2029 when Officeworks moves out, with expected completion in 2031. The campus will include a 25m indoor swimming pool.
Principal Geoff Lancaster said that with strong demand for enrolment, the school had been planning to expand out of its ‘land-locked’ Dee Why campus since 2013, when 800 Pittwater Rd was purchased. Rent from tenants was helping to pay for the project.
Mr Lancaster said the school would be happy to share many of its facility with the local community.
