Damascus College is the amalgam of three former Catholic colleges, St Martin’s in the Pines, Sacred Heart College and St Paul’s College.

The esteemed college is home to over 1,000 students from 7 – 12. Our Geelong team commenced a multi-year painting maintenance plan at the school in 2020 and have completed the major repainting component of the project.

The challenge

The major focus for the College was the state of the facilities, which they felt needed to be uplifted. The previous contractor had left the school in a state of disrepair, with inconsistency in the colour and standard of the paintwork throughout the college. The school’s facilities manager desired a uniform coating system that would present as attractive to all current and prospective staff and students.

Access provided a challenge as the school has several buildings that stand on undulated hilltops. Further to this several buildings have limited entry space for EWPs, which meant that alternative means of access were required.

Solution

Our multi-year painting plan scoped for a repaint of nominated buildings within the school, prioritising those in worse condition at the school’s discretion. All major works within the repaint component of the project were complete during holiday breaks, with the largest volume delivered over the Christmas break. We provided the school with a colour palette of their liking and applied throughout the school creating a uniform colour scheme.

We utilised a combination of EWPs, fixed and mobile scaffolding to safely access all substrates. All access equipment was used with the preservation of green areas in mind. While on-site our operations team removed destained the natural blockwork and clear-sealed to provide future protection against environmental contaminants.

Results

After multiple holiday breaks of up to seven painters on-site at any one time, the major repainting component of this painting plan has been complete. We look forward to returning to maintain the facilities for several years to come.

"Higgins were engaged based on their tailored solution made up of a combination of exterior repainting and maintenance works to our College. To date we have been happy with the level of flexible service during the
term breaks, despite the challenges the site presents in terms of access required. We look forward to growing
the working partnership well in to the future with Higgins."

 Property Manager