The first stage of the Parkerville Children & Youth Care campus involved the adaptive reuse and conservation of Padbury Cottage and St Gabriel’s Cottage within the state-registered former Parkerville Children’s Home precinct. The cottages were transformed into contemporary educational facilities for children and young people with complex social, psychological and therapeutic needs.

Works included heritage restoration, the creation of learning and support spaces, accessible anti-ligature facilities, BAL-19 and fire-safety upgrades, new building services, and external infrastructure including pathways, drainage and landscaping. Significant heritage elements such as jarrah windows, doors, verandahs and fireplaces were retained and repaired wherever possible, with new services carefully integrated to minimise impacts on the heritage fabric.

Performance-based solutions addressed therapeutic safety, accessibility and fire compliance while reducing landscape disturbance, cost and ongoing maintenance. Sustainability was achieved through adaptive reuse, retaining embodied carbon and cultural value, repairing original materials, and preserving the site’s bushland character. The project demonstrates how heritage conservation, innovative compliance strategies and multidisciplinary coordination can deliver a safe, accessible and contemporary learning environment while preserving a place that has cared for children for more than 120 years.