Our in-house architects led this complex weathertightness and seismic upgrade, transforming an ageing science block at Tauranga Girls’ College into a modern, culturally informed learning environment.
Block J at Tauranga Girls’ College is a three-storey teaching block originally built in 1997. Prendos building surveyors first investigated the building in 2011, uncovering significant weathertightness issues in the fibre-cement cladding, flashings, parapets and membrane roofs, which had caused decay to framing and other building elements.
Prendos architects developed remediation concept designs in 2012, but a subsequent Detailed Seismic Assessment following the Canterbury earthquakes identified a low %NBS score, and the block was listed on the city’s earthquake-prone buildings register, creating a clear mandate for a comprehensive upgrade.
In 2018, Prendos’ architectural division – Respond Architects – were engaged as lead designers for the expanded brief incorporating weathertightness remediation and seismic strengthening. The Ministry of Education also added a requirement to transform the block into an Innovative Learning Environment (ILE), which shifted the project from repairing a failing building to rethinking how the space could support modern teaching and collaborative learning.
Respond progressed the architectural design while navigating the added complexity of the seismic strengthening requirements. The strengthening work proved incredibly challenging, triggering delays and multiple rounds of peer review before a final approach was agreed. It was a period that demanded close collaboration between the design team, engineers, the Ministry’s Design Review Panel and the school to keep the project moving.
Around the same time, the impacts of COVID-19 hit, and the Ministry undertook several funding reviews in response to wider budget pressures. Our team worked through a series of value engineering exercises to reduce cost while preserving the educational outcomes the school needed. When funding was later reinstated, the team were able to reintroduce the full scope and continue with the project’s ILE vision intact.
Despite these hurdles, the design process remained highly collaborative, with staff, students and cultural stakeholders all contributing to the final outcome. Multiple workshops and design sessions helped shape a learning environment that met both the Ministry’s requirements and the school’s aspirations.
The end result – officially named Pūwhenua – is a future-focused learning environment that supports contemporary teaching, and has a strong cultural narrative woven throughout the design.
Photo by Mark Scowen