Going up: Bay of Plenty Polytechnic corporate service director Anthony Robertson, at the site of their new learning centre. Photo / George Novak
Going up: Bay of Plenty Polytechnic corporate service director Anthony Robertson, at the site of their new learning centre. Photo / George Novak
Seventeen new classrooms at two of Tauranga's schools, a new block at Bay of Plenty Polytechnic and a $15 million warehouse are among more than $80 million worth of building approved in the city last month.
The building consents approved by Tauranga City Council in September were 115 per cent higher than the same time last year. The cost of new residential dwellings consented was almost $41 million - up 48 per cent from almost $26.6 million at the same time last year.
The cost of the new commercial buildings given the green light far outstripped that, with an increase of 370 per cent. Among the large projects was a new learning centre for the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic, worth $8.5 million.
124 Hewletts Rd: Erect $15 million warehouse.
Polytechnic corporate service director Anthony Robertson said the full cost of the 3500sq m project would be closer to $12 million. It was the first of a four-part project.
Mr Robertson said most of the buildings on the campus were relocatable buildings but the plan was to replace them with permanent structures, with a modern, flexible learning environment.
The building would have a number of specialist areas, including music, radio, design and creative art studios on the ground floor with multi-purpose, flexible classrooms on the upper levels.
54 Miro St: A $1 million fit-out for the High Performance Centre.
"It is quite exciting. It's the first major building that we've had that's been multi-discipline," Mr Robertson said.
The site was blessed on September 23 and work started the next day. It was expected to be competed in August or September next year.
Construction work on building projects at Mount Maunganui Intermediate and Bethlehem Primary School both started over the school holidays.
21 Lodge Ave: Demolish four classrooms at Mount Maunganui Intermediate and erect a 10-classroom teaching block, all worth $2 million.
Mount Maunganui Intermediate will see four classrooms demolished over the holidays to make way for a 10-classroom teaching block to address the school's ballooning role, which has nearly doubled in the past three years.
Principal Lisa Morresey said modern prefabs had been set up on the field to house the role growth until the new building was completed.
The project, worth a total of $3.2 million, was expected to be completed by mid-2016. A new fitness trail would also be installed to help replace some of the playground lost to the new building.
73 Windermere Drive: An $8.5million Learning Centre for Bay of Plenty Polytechnic.
"The roll has just grown so fast and with that comes all the logistics," Mrs Morresey said.
In 2012, the school's role was 377. It is now just over 600.
Bethlehem Primary School was given consent for $1 million worth of work to remove four temporary classrooms and erect seven new ones. The project, worth a total of $1.8 million, has a completion date of early 2016.
Ministry of Education acting head of education infrastructure Jerome Sheppard said some of the two schools' classrooms had weather-tightness issues or were beyond their useful life.
194 Totara St: A $2.2 million upgrade of secondary containment for Mobil Oil storage facility
Also among the major projects was a $15 million storage warehouse on Hewletts Rd, a $1.5 million fit-out of offices on Taurikura Drive, a $2.2 million upgrade of secondary containment for the Mobil Oil storage facility on Totara St and the $1million fit-out of the High Performance Centre on Miro St.
Tauranga Mayor Stuart Crosby said the construction industry would be busy for at least the next 6-8 months, after more than a year of consistently strong activity.
