The school in Dingley Village, which opened in the 1970s but has not received funding for structural upgrades, secured funding in 2020 for a new multi-purpose hall, after a successful campaign by its families.
Original plans put up for tender in January included a building with a gymnasium, assembly room, spaces for drama and music, a storage room for PE equipment, and six toilets.
But the delay in bidding, as well as a steep rise in the cost of construction, prompted the authority to return the project to a much more basic design, consisting of a basketball court and three toilets.
“When this happened we were devastated,” said Kingswood Primary School Board Chairman Dhani Chandra.
This week, following inquiries from before the ageThe school community was told that $1.29 million in additional funding would be made available.
The authority wrote to the school: “Recent global and local events are making it difficult for the construction industry to obtain materials and find workers.”
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“This increases project construction costs and makes it difficult to complete within budget. This also affects school building projects. As a result, some elements of the Kingswood Elementary School masterplan are becoming more difficult to achieve.”
The letter said the government provided more funding in recognition of these challenges.
The explosion illustrates how small-scale public works are being squeezed by rising costs.
According to Master Builders of Victoria figures, construction costs that were mostly flat in 2019 and 2020, and rose slightly last year, rose in the first six months of the year.
Timber, chipboard and carpentry costs rose by 28.7 percent, steel products increased by 54.2 percent, other metal products jumped by 30.6 percent and ceramic products by 20 percent.
Kingswood, which has 586 students, began soliciting funding to renovate its old and crowded buildings in 2018.
Chandra said the school board was even considering launching a community fundraising effort to find funds for the full project.
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Originally published at Melbourne News Vine
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