Australia’s Bureau of Statistics has been recording quarterly population estimates since 1981. In the June quarter of 2020, Australia recorded its slowest population growth since this time (0.1%).
Despite these effects of Covid-19 and subsequent border closures, populations across our suburban schools continue to rise – as does the demand for sustainable infrastructure that provides the best environment for students and teaching staff to thrive. More often, we’re seeing the deployment of de-mountable classrooms and semi-permanent facilities to sustain the population booms in our suburbs.
To allow for these new structures and ensure our schools are getting the critical electrical infrastructure they need, independent schools and public authorities see merit in planning mains and infrastructure upgrades, so the safety and comfort of teachers and pupils aren’t compromised. Schools are also responsible for upholding the government regulations and standards for electrical compliance, or risk not passing inspection.
This is where Programmed’s Essential Services division assists.
In recent years, our teams have noticed an increase in the use of temporary generators to supply enough power for school’s portable buildings. Some of these facilities have been so advanced that they have evolved from semi-permanent to permanent states to grow with the school’s population. We have also observed the increase in single school densities, as opposed to an increased number of schools themselves.
Based on the advice from our experienced in-field teams, this trend will continue to rise, particularly in high residential growth areas – as will the need for re-designed electrical mains cabling infrastructure from Supply Authority HV substations to final Distribution Switchboards and redistributed cabling topology, catering for the increased energy consumption in our schools.
Programmed Essential Services provides the consultation, in house design and delivery capabilities that transform basic electrical infrastructure across the education sector into sustainable solutions. Our ability to deliver complete solutions for our customers means we take full accountability for designing and building solutions that ensure a schools’ mains capacity can keep up with increased presence and technology demands on site.
Our teams maintain strong connections and an experienced workforce across Australia’s most rapidly-growing school districts. Our understanding for how they’re facilitating this growth and our foresight to plan ahead in this sector means our technical solutions support the evolution currently being experienced by Australian schools now, and the inevitable growth we will experience once Australia’s expected population increases stabilise.
