AN almost nine-year push from Immanuel Lutheran School Gawler to replace a crumbling wall at its Lyndoch Road site has finally reached completion – and the results are simply wonderful.
The new $185,000 structure – paid for entirely by the school – blends into the aesthetics of the surrounding buildings and scenery, and principal Daryl Trigg said already the comments received from the community have been encouraging.
“It has been a long process, but it’s been really rewarding to hear a lot of positive feedback,” he said.
“There’s been a lot of affirmation; I think a lot of people thought the old wall would come down and something really crazy would go up.
“I think people have seen it and gone ‘wow, that’s really respectful for what was there in the past, and is so much more tasteful than what we’ve had for a long time’.”
Between 2010 and 2016, four separate engineers reports were received by Gawler Council advising the original heritage wall, due to its extremely deteriorated state, had passed the point of repair.
In the interim, concrete bollards were placed in front of the structure to prevent it from collapsing onto the footpath, and to ensure the safety of students and pedestrians; however, the aesthetics of the temporary fix left a lot to be desired.
The school finally received clearance in April last year to knock down the wall, which it did in October, with works to erect a new, masonry replacement now complete.
Only minor landscaping and footpath upgrades are left to do.
Mr Trigg said while the school would have preferred to spend the money on “computers and iPads”, it was something that needed to be done.
“We were intentional about working with council to ensure what we put back there we were happy with, and they were happy with,” he said.
“With all the blocks there it was safe, but the blocks couldn’t stay there forever; it was just so unattractive from a town point of view.
“So, removing the blocks to create the aesthetic meant the wall had to come down.
“It had been like this for nine years, and just a big impasse working out whether it could be repaired or not.
“It was something we’d been saving for, because we knew it was going to happen eventually.”
Mr Trigg praised the work of Gawler Council development manager Ryan Viney and his team in working with the school to achieve an excellent outcome.
“I think sometimes people have tried to malign the council a little bit about some of this stuff, and I think it’s a bit tricky for them because they’ve got a fair bit going on around the place,” he said.
“We just found the guys in  the council office like Ryan Viney and his crew really, really supportive and good to work with, which we were really appreciative of.”