SCIENTIA TERRACE, MONTE SANT’ ANGELO MERCY COLLEGE
Opened in May 2023, Scientia Terrace is a six-storey hub for science, sport, social justice and enterprise at Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College. It empowers young women with state-of-the-art facilities – from super laboratories to sports courts – designed to enrich learning and inspire creativity across disciplines.
Designed by Hayball within a heritage-listed convent, the building blends tradition and innovation. A Fairtrade café and social enterprise workshops sit science labs, laboratories, collaboration zones, a large indoor sports gymnasium with two multi-purpose courts and an exercise gym. Historic cloisters open into light-filled labs and lively commons, equipping students to imagine futures beyond the classroom.
At a glance
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ClientMonte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College
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ServicesCost Management & Quantity Surveying
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sectorEducation & Research
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LocationSydney, Australia
Empowering learning and leadership
Monte chose RLB for more than numbers on a page. Our deep education experience, strategic procurement advice, and ability to provide value management guidance helped the College secure value and manage supply-chain risks while keeping its ambitious vision on track.
What makes me most proud is how we helped Monte deliver on its vision without compromise. By combining cost rigour with strategic advice, we enabled a complex project to move quickly, transparently and with the confidence of the whole College community.Stephen Mee, Director, RLB
Independence and integrity were equally critical. As part of the tender panel, RLB’s team ensured probity and a defensible contractor selection process. Our value management approach safeguarded must-have outcomes while rigorous cost planning navigated the project’s complexities, including a 40-metre structural span and a live, heritage-sensitive site.
Students move seamlessly between physical, intellectual and social pursuits.
The new Sports and Science Building has enhanced the College’s teaching and equitable learning capabilities with specialised spaces for practical and science theory.
A contemporary take on stained glass fills the atrium stairwell, overlaying microscopic imagery of cells and organisms to symbolise the fusion of faith and science.
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6levels
of science sport and innovation spaces
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11
science laboratories and 2 indoor sports courts
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50-year
masterplan guiding campus transformation
Shaped by students, steered by specialists
Scientia Terrace reflects a whole-of-community effort. Students shaped spaces like the Fairtrade café and innovation hub; teachers informed lab design; heritage specialists guided integration with the convent site. RLB’s cost managers ensured the complex interplay of science, sport and social enterprise was delivered with precision and value.
Tradition and transformation, together
Set within a culturally and architecturally rich precinct, Scientia Terrace was delivered amid complex level changes, strict heritage constraints and the challenges of building on a busy, live campus. With rigorous cost planning and relentless commitment to collaboration, RLB’s team helped to deliver a campus centrepiece that widens access to STEM and sport for young women while preserving the historic character of Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College.
Awards and recognition
Winner of the People’s Choice Award at the 2025 Property Council of Australia / Rider Levett Bucknall Innovation & Excellence Awards.
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