Upper Harbour Primary School
Client: Ministry of Education
Architect: Warren and Mahoney
Form of contract: Tendered
Area: 1866m2
Architects Value: $4.7 million
Completion: December 2005
The sight that greeted former Prime Minister Helen Clark when she arrived to open the new Upper Harbour Primary School was vastly different from the one that Gibson O’Connor first set eyes on just 32 weeks earlier.
A steep hillside is now the site of one of this country’s most impressive school buildings – and one of New Zealand’s most environmentally sustainable developments.
Everything here is brand new, from the two-storey administration/library block, multipurpose hall and classrooms, to the central amphitheatre, courtyards and landscaped school grounds. Everything here is also eco friendly, right down to the stormwater harvesting system that flushes the toilets and irrigates the gardens.
Most importantly for Gibson O’Connor, the building programme was completed on time and on budget. Staff were able to take enrolments before Christmas, and children in Upper Harbour could walk to school for the first time.