Ambrose Greystanes is an Early Learning Centre for 50 children aged between 3-5 years old. Located on the site of Our Lady Queen of Peace Primary School and Our Lady Queen of Peace Catholic Church, the brief was an adaptive reuse of an existing nineteen-sixties two story double brick convent building to create a pre-school for 50 children including an outdoor playground and a small drop-off carpark.

There were some main parameters to the design. The first was to synthesize the requirements of a modern pre-school with the structure of a building inherently different to the functional needs of the new. Square concrete columns and beams held up the concrete slab for the upper floor largely influencing where spaces could be located. The internal and external environment also had to be appropriate as a place of community and education. We worked with Tessa Rose Landscape Design to achieve this for the outdoor playground.

The final design solution resulted in a space that felt completely different to that which previously existed, with much more light and open space. On the ground floor, there is one playroom with children’s toilets, a commercial kitchen, staff facilities and entry reception. A covered outdoor veranda stretched along the front of the building with the playground beyond. On the upper floor there are two playrooms with a shared children’s bathroom and art space.

Client:             Ambrose

Location:        Greystanes, NSW

Size:                1220sqm inc. carpark & outdoor playground

Value: undisclosed

Status:            Completed 2026

Alleanza Team: Charles Glanville, Megan Smith, Nancy Xie

Collaborators Figtree Projects, Tessa Rose Playspace & Landscape Design, Waterman Group, Formiga1, Abel & Brown, UFD Kitchens, EPM, MBM Cost Planners, Birzulis Associates

Contractor: Girvan Group

Photographer: Engaged by Girvan Group