"Don't know the final cost - not told to me. Perhaps school committee don't even know. But bet it was probably much huger than a privately sourced company could have done it for."
The problem is who would have organised the building? Pynes idea was to get the principals to become building managers,as if their not busy enough. Sure some public schools may have been smart enough but a lot cannot get volunteers to run the canteen. As for the A/C it was provided on a region by region basis. Its pretty mild in Melbourne normally.To humid for evaps and splits are expensive.
