Burnside High School Pukehinau block

Pukehinau is a new 25 classroom science and technology teaching block at Burnside High School, with specialist classrooms for metalwork, woodwork, electronics, programming and science.

The project stands out for the open, collaborative relationships between our team and the consultants, engineers, Ministry of Education and the school, with everyone working proactively towards best-for-project outcomes. Along with a smooth build process, the wider team’s achievements include working through project changes in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, AECOM and the design consultants.

Our primary challenge was to ensure that the school could operate without too much disruption while we built their much-needed new classrooms. We programmed work around their requirements, strictly observing quiet times during exam periods, making full use of the school holidays, and readily changing our plans on the fly. With site access crossing the school field, we installed remote-controlled two-way gates to keep the students safe. Complete with warning lights and buzzers, the gates blocked site traffic when open one way and pedestrians when open the other way.

We also built a new pick up – drop off zone as part of the project, ensuring that there was plenty of clear signage and staff on hand to direct traffic when needed.

Anticipation mounted as we conducted a full programme of site tours for staff and students during the build, and the school is delighted with their new facilities.