Value

In the aftermath of the 2022 Northern Rivers floods, multiple public schools across the region were left unusable, forcing students into temporary learning environments and placing significant pressure on local communities. The NSW Government responded with a coordinated school rebuild and resilience program, focused on delivering permanent, flood-resilient education facilities that could be delivered quickly, safely and to a consistent quality standard. To support accelerated delivery across multiple sites, the program adopted a modular construction approach, combining off-site manufacturing with on-site assembly. This enabled parallel design, manufacture and construction activities while improving quality control and reducing exposure to weather-related delays.

MBC Group was engaged by ADCO Constructions to provide NCC and Access consultancy services across six schools forming part of this regional recovery cluster.

The challenge

The Northern Rivers School Cluster presented a unique combination of technical and delivery challenges:
- Flood-affected sites requiring elevated building solutions and resilient undercroft conditions
- Multiple schools delivered concurrently, each with different site constraints and community needs
- Compressed timeframes, driven by the urgency to return students to permanent facilities
- The use of modular building systems, requiring careful integration of factory-built elements with NCC and access compliance requirements
- Complex accessibility outcomes, particularly for elevated classrooms, ramps, lifts and external paths of travel

The outcome

Ensuring consistent compliance outcomes across all schools, while accommodating modular design efficiencies, was critical to the success of the program. Key outcomes supported by our involvement include:
- Delivery of flood-resilient, elevated school buildings suited to future extreme weather events
- Consistent NCC and Access compliance across six schools using modular building systems
- Improved speed of delivery, supporting the timely return of students to permanent learning environments
- Accessible and inclusive school facilities, despite challenging site conditions and elevated construction typologies

The Northern Rivers School Cluster demonstrates how modular construction can be successfully combined with rigorous compliance and inclusive design principles.