Ashburton College head girl Mollie Gibson leads the way for MPs Andrew Falloon and Jo Luxton, with the Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. Photos Jaime Pitt-MacKayA $50 million Government investment will see Ashburton College demolished and a new school built on the college site.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was in town yesterday to announce the major redevelopment deal and said the college would then be set up to accommodate the roll growth that would come  with its rapidly growing population.

After touring the campus with senior staff and student executive members, Ardern said it was clear the school was in a poor condition and that a significant upgrade was required.

“I’ve seen the environment you work in and you’ve been left a little wanting in Ashburton,” she said.

“You walk into your library and it’s a bit like walking into an old pizza hut with buckets laid out around the room.”

The college had been promised new buildings for some time, but that time had finally arrived and with the $50 million investment, Ardern said the Government was confident the college environment would be the best it could possibly be.

“It will take a couple of years for a project of this scale, but we hope at the end of it you’ll have the modern learning environment you deserve.”

Her announcement was greeted with applause and cheers from teaching staff.

While it was education minister Chris Hipkins’ first visit to the school, he said he had seen plenty of photos that told the story of its physical state.

“These concrete block cells are a very old-fashioned way of thinking about education and I’m really excited about finally being able to give them this money,” he said.

There is nothing you can do to modernise these buildings.

With concrete cells it was better to demolish than try to refit and reconfigure.

A huge amount of work had already been done by the school to get the rebuild project to this point, but the real journey was only just beginning, Hipkins said.

Principal Ross Preece could not stop smiling.

Having the money committed to a rebuild of his school was the best gift any school community could receive, he said.

“It’s fair to say I’m pretty excited, but the hard work’s only beginning.

“The key now is in the planning.

“The indication from the ministry is that this is a total rebuild, except for the two gymnasiums, and they’re absolutely committed to the rebuild.”

Preece said that while he had done some preliminary design work in his head, that work would be done by the experts with input from the college.

“For us flexible spaces are key and indoor outdoor flow, a variety of spaces and specialist classrooms and single cell environments too.

“We’re looking at a mixture and because it’s such a huge project we will have these options.

“We have input into what we want, but it would be a foolish principal who thought they could design a new school.”

He anticipates this year will be spent planning the rebuild, with procurement to follow. As a total project, however, it could be a five-year build.

“If we were moved into the initial stages by the start of 2022 I’d be pleasantly surprised. Ministry property moves slowly, but they produce a good product.”

The college is now at maximum capacity with no spare classrooms, but it was fortunate to have vacant land on which the first stage of the new complex could be built, Preece said.

That land includes the horticultural block, parking areas that were once the community pool precinct and the land on which Menorlue and Phoenix Preschool are sited.

The Menorlue building will be relocated ahead of the rebuild.

“We have a couple of community organisations who could be interested and we’d gift it to them to move off the site,” he said.

It was vital to retain Phoenix Preschool on the college campus, but whether the new school was built around this or the preschool was relocated to another part of the campus had not been decided.

“But that preschool is absolutely a godsend for us and we must keep it.”

The rebuild of Ashburton College will provide 64 new classrooms and will add extra non-teaching space.

It will provide space for 1350 students and the site will be prepared for a roll of 1600 to accommodate forecast future growth.

Currently the college has a roll of 1150.

By Sue Newman © The Ashburton Guardian - 14 March 2019