Tauranga City Council has approved a building consent valued at $15 million to relocate and expand Brookfield School on a new site 300m down the road from its current Millers Rd site. Photo / File
Good things take time.
It might be cliché but that is the case for Brookfield's newest primary school which has finally been given the green light.
Tauranga City Council has approved a building consent valued at $15 million to relocate and expand Brookfield School on a new site 300m down the road from its current Millers Rd site.
The new school will be built on a site almost double the size of its existing grounds and provide capacity for up to 700 pupils once complete.
Education Minister Chris Hipkins announced the growth plans at Brookfield School in 2019.
Three years on, the project is finally in fruition.
Brookfield School principal Ngaere Durie said the project was in its early stages.
"There is still a lot to go. But we are hoping to be moved in on the first day of school in 2024."
Durie said although it was announced three years ago the school was always planned to be complete in 2023.
"But we need time to move as well. This just gives us more time to prepare. That's the part I am most grateful for is time," she said.
"I am really happy. Our kids are excited."
But Durie said moving a school was "a lot of work".
"I am getting a school ready while running a current one," she said.
"But I am in a fortunate position that not many principals get to experience. It's humbling and a reminder we are fortunate to be in this situation in a very tricky time."
She said it was a "pedagogical shift" as well.
Pedagogy involves teaching style, strategies, relationships that teachers form with students, and how these are interpreted within the teaching and learning process.
"We are going from single-cell classrooms to a modern learning environment. That takes preparation."
The school would also move from a single level building to two storeys, Durie said.
The school had a current roll of 286 and was expected to grow to about 300 by Term 2.
"Each year since 2015 we have increased between 20 to 25 students per year."
There were about 14 classrooms at the current site and "we have occupied every single space".
"We use the library, our staffroom is a classroom and we use the hall as our staffroom."
They were using three relocatable classrooms to help cater for the growth in the meantime, Durie said.
The new school will be built in two parts. The first part will cater for about 550 pupils and once the second stage was built it will have the capacity for up to 700 pupils.
"And with more students comes more employment."
Durie did not know who would occupy the current site once the school relocates.
Ministry of Education associate deputy secretary Sam Fowler said the existing site was "constrained" and unable to cater for the growth in Brookfield School's catchment.
"The new facilities will cater for current and future growth while providing excellent facilities that support the school's vision for teaching and learning.
"We are now in the early stage of construction with a view to the new school facilities being ready for Term 1, 2024."
The consent was part of a near-record number of building consents issued in March.
Tauranga City Council's latest report showed 184 building consents were issued for the month valued at $114,343,255. That is the highest amount since $188,205,902 in March 2021.
The council's building services manager, Steve Pearce, said March had been busy compared with the previous three months, which were typically comparatively quiet because of the summer holidays and annual leave.
"Compared to the figures for the past few years, the number of consents issued is tracking to be around the monthly average."
The second-biggest consent issued in March was $9m to build a three-storey hotel and commercial building on Rata St.
Construction of Quest Mount Maunganui, on the corner of Rata St and Maunganui Rd, which was previously occupied by the Breakers cafe and bar, was supposed to start in 2020.
But Covid delays pushed the project a year behind schedule.
READ MORE:
• 'Massive delays': Schools frustrated over wait for new classrooms
• New primary school for Tauranga: $16m invested into Brookfield Primary School
• Quest Apartments to build $15m apartment hotel in Mount Maunganui
• 'Bottleneck ': Rush on building consents before fee increase overwhelms council
Quest Apartment Hotels general manager Adrian Turner said he was glad to have building consent.
"The process took considerably longer than initially anticipated," he said.
The build was announced in 2019 after the iconic Breakers cafe and bar which occupied the corner of Rata St and Maunganui Rd for more than a decade was pulled down to make way for the development.
Turner said the build has faced "significant challenges" since it was announced two years ago.
"Primarily the Covid-19 pandemic and associated lockdowns and economic impacts, including the availability of contractors.
"The project was re-tendered during this time and awarded to local contractors Marra Construction."
He said construction was now well under way with steel framing being erected onsite and the project was set for completion in April 2023.
"We have a great base of corporate guests that continue to ask about Mount Maunganui and can't wait for the property to open."
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