Design School Plans Unveiled for Former Qld TAFE Campus

A defunct South-East Queensland TAFE campus is to get a new lease on life as a school of design under plans announced by the Queensland Government. 

The Sunshine Coast School of Design is the brainchild of architects NRA Collaborative, which has been chosen as the architects and proponents for the new school. 

It proposed that the buildings be adaptively reused to cater for up to 800 students in the creative industries, including fashion, art, industrial design, architecture and interior design. 

NRA Collaborative secured the site after a “long and extensive public tender process” to secure the buildings designed by Gold Medal architect Don Watson.

It submitted plans in 2021 that propose the restoration of the buildings and development of associated studios, learning facilities and student residential accommodation, NRA Collaborative chief executive Noel Robinson said. 

“We are cognisant of the importance of this significant infill land parcel located within the urban footprint of Tewantin and adjacent to the Noosa Golf Club,” he said.

“We are now able to undertake design development work and to engage with approving authorities, planning and other consultants and potential end-users.”

NRA will undertake further consultation with the support of a local steering committee on future initiatives which could include a theatre, creative art space for the community, and a research facility to support the local koala population.

Prior to Covid, in 2019, Noosa Shire Council announced it intended to acquire the site for $1.7 million, a price “well below valuations”. 

However, it was forced to abandon the plan “due to the hefty financial impacts” of the pandemic, and would need to commit ratepayers to paying a further $1 million to get the buildings up to scratch. 

The Tewantin TAFE campus was built in 2004 by the Queensland Government, and was a Royal Australian Institute of Architects award winner.

The campus, at 24 Cooroy Noosa Road, closed in 2014. It is now in a dilapidated state.

Other projects NRA Collaborative has worked on include Morris Property Group’s 152 Wharf Street project in Brisbane and luxury residences at Noosa.

Image at top: Nearmap