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6 December 2010

To whom it may concern:

I am writing to express the gratitude felt by Bullen Pre School (BPS) to Architects for Peace for the
support shown to us during 2010.

BPS is a small kindergarten located in Bulleen run by a volunteer committee. The kindergarten
has a current enrolment of 85 children in 3 and 4 year old classes. The kindergarten, operating
from a local council owned site, was seeking to apply for the Children’s Capital Grant from the
Department of Education and Early Childhood Development (DEECD) to construct an extension to
the current building. The committee approached Architects for Peace to ask for support with the
preparation of concept designs and cost plan A for inclusion in the grant application. Preliminary
discussions with the local council had provided in-principle support for the proposed extension,
subject to final agreement on further details (such as cost, risk and design).

From the first discussions that the kindergarten committee had with Architects for Peace, Eleanor
Chapman and Pauline Ng were extremely helpful and supportive. They both gave up time over
the weekend to discuss the application process, engagement terms, scope considerations and
EOI process with the kindergarten representatives. Pauline and Eleanor were then able to review
the draft scope of works prepared by the kindergarten and provide high quality comments which
represented a significant improvement on the original draft. During the tendering process, DEECD
released the grant application guidelines and requirements including the required submission date,
which cut several months from the anticipated schedule available for the work.

From the EOI process expertly managed by Pauline and Eleanor from Architects for Peace, the
team of Ajith Kuruvilla, Paul Cooksey and Kamil Muhammad were selected. The support to the
project from this team was exceptional and delivered an extremely professional, high quality result.
Special mentions must go to – Ajith who was able to coordinate the various skills and draw on his
extensive network to obtain support for the preparation of the cost plan and the underground
services survey; and Paul who was able to take a jumbled wish list of ideas and expertly sort
through it and craft it into a excellent design within the context of the children’s services licence
requirements. The team added their extensive insight into previously unconsidered issues such
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as the presence of asbestos in the eaves of the building, heritage consideration of a tree and
design considerations for (and cost/benefit assessment of) a 6 star green
rating for
  building.
the
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Unfortunately, even with this excellent outcome, delivered under extremely tight timeframes, the
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council would not support the project and the grant application and as a result the application was
not submitted. There are certainly lessons to be learned from this regrettable outcome –
engagement of stakeholders is critical to project success.

I will happily utilise the Architects for Peace service in any similar role in the future.

Ben Barrow
President

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