Categories: News

$79m for largest ever school investment

&NewLine;<p><img class&equals;" alignright size-full wp-image-1939" style&equals;"margin&colon; 5px&semi; float&colon; right&semi;" alt&equals;"SND22-wk1-79m investment" src&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;schoolnewsnz&period;fastrackdev&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;12&sol;SND22-wk1-79m&lowbar;&lowbar;investment&period;jpg" width&equals;"300" height&equals;"231" &sol;>Work on New Zealand&&num;8217&semi;s largest-ever school investment at Western Springs College will begin late next year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p> <&excl;--more--> <&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;Up to &dollar;75 million will be spent redeveloping Auckland&&num;8217&semi;s Western Springs College&comma; and around &dollar;4 million upgrading TAPAC&comma; the Auckland Performing Arts Centre situated on the school grounds&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Nearly 80 percent of the existing teaching spaces will be replaced entirely and the others will be upgraded&period; In addition&comma; a new gymnasium will be built&comma; and the existing hall and administration block will be upgraded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Western Springs has faced considerable challenges due to the geotechnical challenges of the site it was built on&comma; which is a former quarry and landfill&period; That combined with ageing buildings and weather-tightness issues has made this one of the most complex school redevelopments undertaken in New Zealand&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The challenges are reflected in the investment&comma; which is the equivalent of the cost of building two new secondary schools&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The redevelopment will see two brand new teaching blocks built&comma; comprising 64 teaching spaces&period; One of these blocks&comma; containing 12 teaching spaces&comma; will be for Ng&amacr; Puna o Wai&omacr;rea&comma; the college&&num;8217&semi;s M&amacr;ori immersion-Rumaki unit&period;<br &sol;>The two new blocks will take the total number of teaching spaces at Western Springs to 81&comma; including the 17 existing teaching spaces that will be upgraded&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Roll capacity at Western Springs will increase by roughly 25 percent from more than 1300 students at present to around 1700 after the redevelopment&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Auckland Performing Arts Centre &lpar;TAPAC&rpar; is a community asset and that is why &dollar;4 million will be spent on weather-tightness issues&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Work at Western Springs is expected to start with enabling works and temporary accommodation put in place in late 2016&period; Construction is scheduled to start in 2017 and be completed by the end of 2018&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

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Rosie Clarke

Rosie is the managing editor here at Multimedia Pty Ltd, working across School News New Zealand and School News Australia. She has spent 10+ years in B2B journalism, and has spent some time over the last couple of years teaching as a sessional academic. Feel free to contact her at any time with editorial or magazine content enquiries.

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