A project to build three new schools in Marlborough is in limbo because of a cost blowout.
The project, Te Tātoru o Wairau, is the Ministry of Education’s largest construction project to date.
It will lead to the co-location of Marlborough Boys’ and Marlborough Girls’ colleges and the relocation of Bohally Intermediate School.
Scott Evans, an infrastructure and digital leader, or hautū, at the ministry, said it became clear at the end of 2022 that the estimated cost of the build was going to exceed the budget of $170 million that had been approved in 2018.
As a result, “the ministry reviewed the project and reduced the scope”.
The ministry tried to reduce costs by working off current population figures, rather than predicted population figures. This meant it was planning for 400 fewer students at the colleges and didn’t need as many classrooms.
That meant the schools would not be future-proofed for growth, but even then, the expected cost still remained “well above the approved budget”, Evans said.
The schools were last week told the ministry had decided to pause “planned project activities” scheduled to begin in February.
“However, design work will continue to identify areas where we can improve the value of the project and reduce project costs.”
Evans said the decision to pause works was not the new Government’s decision, but the ministry’s.
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Concept designs for the new Bohally school, at College Park, show its Stephenson St main entrance and covered walkway.
The project was first announced in 2015, at a special assembly at Marlborough Girls’ College, by the education minister at the time, National’s Hekia Parata.
The plan was to co-locate the boys’ and girls’ colleges, and it had a budget of $63m. Bohally was brought in when a greenfield site couldn’t be found.
The plan then was to co-locate the two colleges on the site of the girls’ college and Bohally, on McLauchlan St, and move Bohally to College Park, part of the existing boys’ college. As the plans progressed, the budget crept up to $100m and then $170m.
All three schools have new principals since Parata made her announcement.
Despite the cost concerns at the end of 2022, and the subsequent review, the project gathered pace this year.
In April, the principals revealed the master plans for the schools at the ASB Theatre in Blenheim. The plans showed the construction work was expected to take six years to complete and would be carried out in stages to minimise disruption. The ministry leader at that announcement called the project “one of the most complex construction projects” the ministry had led.
A mauri stone from Te Hoiere/Pelorus River was laid at the new co-located campus site in June.
In September, concept designs for the new intermediate school at College Park were revealed. Work on the intermediate was expected to start in the new year and be completed in 2026. The park’s hockey turf was shifted to the McLauchlan St site, and work there was ongoing.
Evans this week said work on the new turf and pavilion would continue and was on track to be completed by early 2024.
He said the master plans and concept plans were released earlier this year as they allowed stakeholders and the community to understand the “scale and complexity of the programme of works” and what progress had been made.
The ministry would brief the new minister early in the new year on revised options for Te Tātoru o Wairau, Evans said.
Earlier this month, the Cook Strait ferry project, another massive infrastructure project expected to ramp up in Marlborough next year, was told by the Government its costs had got out of control. The iReX project was now essentially dead in the water until KiwiRail could come up with a new plan for the nationally significant route.
Mary-Jeanne Lynch, the principal of Marlborough Girls’ College, said on Thursday that the original costings for Te Tātoru o Wairau, as it was still called, were done “quite a number of years ago”.
Lynch said the new coalition government was being “prudent”, which she thought was “completely reasonable and sensible” given the project had grown in scope as well as how much building costs had increased over the years.
“This has been a long project. We have talked with incoming ministers before. I’m confident people will understand the importance of the project to this community,” Lynch said.
“I’m confident in the process that we’ve had in place for some time, and the really robust work done over many years to build a strong business case.
“The reality is this project started with a National government in 2015. There’s been support from both parties … for a significant period of time.”
