When Figurehead took on Clifton Hill Primary School, the project was at 70% completion, but critical challenges remained. Construction defects, delays, and structural concerns needed to be addressed before the school could open its doors to students. Engaged by the Victorian School Building Authority (VSBA), our role was to rectify outstanding issues, restore progress, and ensure a high-quality, fully operational learning environment.
This was more than just delivering a finished building—it was about ensuring the school was built to last, meeting the needs of students, staff, and the wider community.
The Challenge: Rebuilding More Than Just a Structure
With construction stalled, Figurehead inherited a complex landscape of unresolved issues, the most pressing being significant water damage to the Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT) structure. Timber that should have been strong and resilient had absorbed moisture, jeopardising its integrity and longevity. Left unchecked, this could have compromised not just the project timeline, but the safety and quality of the building itself.
Beyond the physical challenges, the project had also lost momentum. Subcontractors had withdrawn, stakeholders were uncertain, and trust needed to be rebuilt. A school is not just a building; it is a foundation for growth, learning, and community. Every decision we made was with the students, staff, and families in mind.
Our Approach: A Blueprint for Progress
Delivering Clifton Hill Primary School the Figurehead way meant adopting a strategic, solutions-focused approach, balancing technical precision with strong leadership and proactive stakeholder engagement.
1. Restoring the Structural Integrity of CLT
We implemented a meticulous moisture control strategy to bring the timber back to structural compliance. Using industrial dehumidifiers over 12 weeks—including an accelerated works program during the Christmas period—we dried out the timber, ensuring it met strict quality and safety benchmarks.
2. Re-engaging Subcontractors & Rebuilding Trust
Many subcontractors were hesitant to return after the project’s earlier disruptions. To restore confidence, we met with each team individually, revised their scopes of work, clarified project expectations, and established a transparent, collaborative process. With strong communication, clear deliverables, and leadership that put problem-solving at the forefront, we reassembled a committed workforce and regained project momentum.
3. Accelerating the Program Without Compromise
The school had a clear deadline—students were waiting, and delays were not an option. We took a proactive approach to scheduling, increasing collaboration with VSBA, and implementing an accelerated program that saw key milestones met without sacrificing quality.
By working through the Christmas period, increasing on-site resources, and tightening coordination between all stakeholders, we delivered a school that was not just completed—but completed to the highest standard.
The Outcome: A School That Stands for More
Clifton Hill Primary School is now a fully realised, multi-level vertical campus, designed to integrate seamlessly with its surroundings while providing students with a dynamic and forward-thinking learning environment.
With state-of-the-art classrooms, flexible breakout spaces, a rooftop garden, and a gymnasium, the school is more than just a place of education—it is an inspiring environment where students can thrive. Sustainability was embedded into the project, with Passivhaus principles and energy-efficient systems ensuring the school is built for long-term resilience and performance.
This project stands as a testament to Figurehead’s ability to overcome adversity, drive quality outcomes, and deliver spaces that genuinely impact communities.
Because at the heart of every project we build, it’s never just about the structure—it’s about the people, the purpose, and the future it shapes.
Figurehead | Built for the Next Generation.
Building for what’s next
The Centre for Higher Education Studies (CHES) is a facility for high-performing senior secondary students, designed to bridge the gap between school and university. Built in Melbourne’s South Yarra for the Victorian School Building Authority, CHES delivers on a bold pedagogical brief: create a place that feels rigorous, open-ended, and future-facing.
For us, it was also a technical challenge. A narrow block. A complex easement. High-voltage lines running the street frontage. And a structure that had to carry architectural intent, while negotiating a high-rise directly on the title boundary.
The kind of job that doesn’t offer shortcuts—just steady progress, and the need to think clearly at every step.
Light, structure, and clarity
The heart of the design is a full-height atrium—a vertical volume that draws daylight deep into the footprint, enabling every level to breathe. A Raico hybrid timber-aluminium glazing system wraps the internal façade, lined with Victorian Ash. Above, an ETFE roof system—lightweight, double-skin, and imported from Germany—delivers thermal control and diffused natural light without overloading the structure.
It’s not decorative. It’s deliberate. On a site like this, light is structural too.
A material education
CHES isn’t finished in a traditional sense. Much is left visible on purpose—timber columns, concrete slabs, galvanised ductwork, electrical runs, and fixing systems. Students don’t just use the building; they learn from how it’s made.
The structural system balances laminated timber with concrete to reduce embodied carbon. Compressed fibre-cement wall panels and Woodwool ceilings add acoustic warmth. Floor finishes shift in tone from level to level, creating subtle visual cues to aid orientation.
It’s an environment that respects detail—down to the way light lands on a handrail or the shift in underfoot texture between teaching and breakout zones.
Anchored in site, open to the street
The ground level sets the tone. A generous lobby opens into a reception, café, and shared student hub, connecting CHES with its public interface on Chapel Street. A 275-seat auditorium—equipped for lectures, assemblies, and community use—opens onto a west-facing terrace that links directly to the adjacent Melbourne High School.
Externally, the pre-cast concrete façade is softened with integrated planting, giving the building a presence that’s civic without being performative. Views out are framed by greenery. Views in are partial—just enough to suggest the activity within, not reduce it to display.
Designed to adapt
Each learning space is positioned around the central void, ensuring equal access to light, air, and outlook—whether across the atrium or toward the street and terrace. State-of-the-art AV systems enable hybrid and remote learning across the state. Breakout nooks and transition spaces are treated with the same care as classrooms, enabling students to move between focus and rest with ease.
Up top, a roof terrace offers outdoor learning and teacher breakout space, shaded by a solar-panel pergola feeding energy back into the building.
Across every level, CHES was built to accommodate learning modes that haven’t been invented yet. Its systems are future-proofed. Its logic is legible. Its finish is robust without being severe.
Built to endure
There’s no flourish here for flourish’s sake. No detail that doesn’t carry weight.
CHES is a building that supports the work of education without distracting from it. And for us, that’s the real reward: turning a complex site and a high-spec brief into something that feels resolved, lasting, and quietly ambitious.
We’re proud to have built it.
