$9m redevelopment for Thorndon School, Wellington   11 Feb 2016

Hon Nikki Kaye

Associate Minister of Education

11 February 2016

$9m redevelopment for Thorndon School, Wellington

One of the capital’s oldest schools, Thorndon School in central Wellington, will undergo a $9 million redevelopment, Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye announced today.

Thorndon School spans three centuries, having been first established in 1852.

“The redevelopment will see new teaching and administration blocks and a new library built at the school, which has experienced weathertightness issues with its current buildings,” says Ms Kaye.

“The new teaching block will comprise 13 learning spaces, replacing the school’s 11 existing classrooms and providing two extra learning spaces to accommodate roll growth.

“All of the new learning spaces will provide innovative learning environments featuring flexible teaching spaces.

“The school sits on a small, compact site, so the new buildings will be configured in a way that maximises outdoor play space and enhances access-ways to and through the school grounds.

“Building work will be carried out in two phases, and a temporary village of classrooms will be situated on the neighbouring Wellington Girls’ College site while redevelopment work is underway.”

Today’s announcement means almost $100 million of school redevelopments have been announced in the Wellington area since last November. These include redevelopments in the city such as Khandallah School ($6 million); Kelburn Normal School ($8.5 million); Newtown School ($8.9 million) and Ngaio School ($3.4 million).

“The Government is committed to ensuring that students all over New Zealand can learn in environments that inspire and support them to achieve to the best of their potential.

“Over the last seven years, we’ve invested more than $4 billion in school property maintenance, growth and modernisation nationwide. This is more than a 30 per cent increase on the previous seven years.”

Construction at Thorndon School is expected to start in late 2016 and will take approximately 15 months to complete.

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