Modernised, brighter and warmer – North Canterbury primary schools Kaiapoi Borough and Kaiapoi North have been given a much-needed makeover by Christchurch firm HRS Construction Ltd.
Project scope ranged from building new classroom blocks to refurbishing existing blocks, a library and administration block, along with a brand new purpose-built hall for Kaiapoi Borough.
HRS Construction director Richard Gibb says most work has now been completed and the children and teachers are enjoying the benefits of their new surroundings. He says some of the refurbishment included structural strengthening, larger doorways and repainting.
“The work on the class rooms will provide the schools with an open-plan learning environment. Internally, Autex paneling, a pin board type material with some acoustic properties was used.
“Improving the heating qualities has made the rooms a lot warmer and dryer and will certainly have a better feel to them.”
Scheduled for completion and handover by the end of May, Kaiapoi Borough’s new hall is equivalent to half the size of a basketball court and includes a small kitchenette, an ablution block to one side and a small entrance foyer.
The interior has gib board in the ablution area, while the main hall has a mix of ply on the lower walls, Woodtex acoustic paneling for the upper walls and acoustic panels in the ceiling. T
he hall’s exterior cladding is all iron with Kingspan insulated panels as its roof.
The construction projects for both Kaiapoi Borough and Kaiapoi North schools commenced in November of 2016, taking in at least 6 months of wet wintery conditions.
Richard says working in with the school and Ministry of Education is essential on any school development project with a lot of schools utilising their libraries or halls while construction work is undertaken in the classrooms.
“We also try and work inside school holiday periods and you get a lot of work done then. If you look at Kaiapoi North, we had lot of work to be done over the last Christmas holidays.
A lot of our guys put their hand up to work on rather than take leave. They worked tirelessly over Christmas putting in long hours to get things turned around for the school.”
When reflecting on the success of the projects, Richard says that when he looks at what the schools had previously and what they have now, the end product for the children and the teachers is the best thing for him.
“Especially for Kaiapoi Borough – you went in there and it was a tired old school and now they have beautiful teaching facilities and learning environments. It makes me feel very proud and proud of my team who made it happen.”
Once the hall has been handed over to the school, HRS Construction will commence demolition of the old hall and development of roading and a school drop-off zone to complete the project.
“You get a buzz out of doing work within the community, developer or a factory. “You see the changes that take place and the joy that it brings. It’s nice to be rebuilding stuff as a team.”
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The Kaiapoi Borough school refurbishment included structural strengthening, larger doorways and repainting.
