Over the long break the College was surging with tradies completing much needed renovations of the student facilities and conservation of heritage items.

The bathrooms refresh this year included those in Tower and Albert Wings which were completely stripped out so remodelling and new waterproofing could be completed.

Throughout the residential wings re-painting and many repairs to the internal fabric occurred. External work included the sanding and repainting of many of the metal framed windows and in Blacket and Radford repairs to leadlight windows by a stained-glass window specialist.

An exciting refurbishment was done to the City Road Gates. This heritage item is part of the extensive university fencing that runs along City Rd from the corner of Carillon Ave to Broadway which was installed in the 1890s. The orange sandstone gate posts of the College are carved as cylindrical stone blocks with a semi-spherical and crenelated capstone which are in contrast to the square cut designs of the University gates. The Paul’s gates have wrought iron work and a pair of lamps atop the posts and both feature a Tudor crown. The metalwork has been sanded back, rust-proofed and painted in shiny jet black with gold leaf highlights.     

The Senior Common Room was also renovated with new paint colours, new rug and sanded and coated floor timbers. The new decorative scheme will be completed in due course with gold curtaining to complement the traditional College colours.

The Hall dining chairs are a constant maintenance task and the in-house team provide the craftsmanship and care for these items year-round. Dr Antone Martinho-Truswell, our Dean of Graduate House, who is a skilled carpenter, has put the finishing touches on the new table legs of several of the refurbished hall tables and he is pictured above applying his hand-carved timber shields to the cross beams.

Scaffolding of the Ivan Head and McMillan buildings also occurred to provide safe work platforms for the corrective work being undertaken by the builders. All the balconies and some of the very tops of the external walls required realignment to rectify the problems resulting in rainwater intrusion.

The final touches to the Waddy Performance Centre and Tag Gym expansion were also underway. This large space has been fitted out as a theatre for music, drama, lecture and performance events. A large studio for ballet, dance, pilates, yoga, stretch and other aerobic activity has been built. Also a space has been provided for additional resistance training machines greatly expanding the ever-popular gym space. 

Invitations to the official opening on Saturday 4 May will be sent out via email from the College soon.