The Problem: Wrong Table for the Job
When Loreto Kirribilli completed a significant upgrade to their Technical and Applied Studies facilities, the workbenches specified and supplied through the architect and builder were not suitable for a school woodwork environment. The tables installed were standard classroom furniture – not designed to handle the structural demands of timber work, vice mounting, or the sustained daily use a working TAS room places on a bench surface.
This is a more common scenario than most schools realise. Architects specifying school fit-outs do not always distinguish between a general-purpose classroom table and a purpose-built workshop bench. The similarity ends at the surface. Structurally and functionally, they are entirely different products built for entirely different demands.
A standard classroom table is designed for students sitting and writing. It is not engineered to absorb the lateral force a mounted woodwork vice applies to a bench frame. The surface is not built to withstand the impact, abrasion, and point loading of hand tool work. The fixing points for vice hardware are not present. And the load ratings are a fraction of what a working bench in a school woodwork room needs to carry.
For Loreto Kirribilli, the result was a newly upgraded TAS room that could not be used the way it was intended. The benches in place were the wrong product for the environment, and the school needed the problem resolved.
The Solution: 7 Purpose-Built Noxx Workbenches
Noxx Industries replaced all desks with 7 solid custom-built woodwork tables, manufactured specifically for the school workshop environment.
Each bench features a solid timber top with the mass and surface integrity required for hand tool and light machine work. The frames are powder-coated steel, providing the structural rigidity needed to resist the racking forces that vice operation and active woodwork produce. A face vice is mounted to each bench at the correct position for right-handed workflow, with the outer jaw face flush to the bench edge.
The benches are configured as island units rather than wall-runs, arranged in rows across the room. This layout supports class sizes working on individual projects simultaneously, gives the supervising teacher clear sight lines across all work positions, and allows students to access their bench from multiple sides – an important practical consideration when handling longer timber lengths.
A lower storage shelf is integrated into each bench frame, providing each student with accessible in-session storage for project materials and keeping the bench surface clear for active work.
Why This Matters Beyond the Equipment
The Loreto Kirribilli project is a useful reminder that workshop bench specification is a specialist decision. The functional requirements of a school woodwork bench are not always obvious from a product description, and the gap between a table that looks right and one that performs correctly under daily workshop use is significant.
The consequences of getting this wrong extend beyond inconvenience. A standard classroom table in a workshop environment creates a range of WHS concerns: insufficient load rating for the materials and tools being used, no structural capacity for vice mounting, a surface that degrades quickly under hand tool work, and a frame that cannot absorb the lateral forces generated during cutting, planing, and clamping operations. Each of these is a safety issue, not just a performance shortcoming. And beyond compliance, a room fitted with the wrong equipment communicates, unintentionally, that the TAS program is not a priority. Check the government website for more information on TAS room compliance needs.
Specifying the right product from the outset – or engaging a specialist to correct a specification before installation – is significantly less expensive than replacing an entire bench fit-out after the fact. In this case, Noxx was engaged to do exactly that.
Product Information
The benches supplied to Loreto Kirribilli are from the Noxx solid workbench range, available in standard and custom configurations to suit different room sizes and program requirements.
The base specification is the Solid Noxx Industrial Table: 880 to 900mm high with a 1250 x 1250mm solid top, replaceable ply insert panels, bolt-on hardwood rails, and 65 x 65mm steel legs with adjustable feet. Schools that want under-bench storage with visibility of contents can add the Noxx Lockable Caged Storage option, which uses steel side guards and a single door with two locking gates which is useful when teachers need to see what is stored at a glance without unlocking each bench.
Where full enclosure is the priority, the Solid Noxx Bench with Lockable Storage Cabinet replaces the cage with a solid laminate cabinet and pad-locking steel doors, keeping contents completely concealed and secured.
Both products can be quoted with optional vices, custom bench top materials including solid steel or laminate, foot casters for flexible room configurations, and non-standard dimensions where the room requires it.
To discuss bench specifications, storage configurations, or custom dimensions for your TAS room, contact the Noxx team online or call 1300 066 990.