$56.6 million has been committed to six schools for facility upgrades, Education Minister Erica Stanford and Infrastructure Minister Chris Bishop announced today.
The funding was part of the Government's $2 billion investment in school infrastructure.
“As Minister, I’m delighted that six schools will be receiving these major redevelopments, covering 52 teaching spaces up and down the country. These projects are rolling out as part of the Government’s investment through Budget 24 and 25,” Stanford said.
The schools to be redeveloped were:
- Kerikeri High School, Northland, 12 replacement classrooms
- Pinehill School (Browns Bay), Auckland, 3 replacement classrooms
- Hutt Intermediate, Wellington, 14 replacement classrooms
- Natone Park School, Wellington, 7 replacement classrooms and admin space
- Ashburton Intermediate, Canterbury, 8 replacement classrooms
- Maruawai College, Southland, 8 replacement specialist classrooms
Work was set to begin in the next six months, Bishop said.
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'School property system nearing crisis'
Stanford said the government inherited a "school property system nearing crisis" when it came into power.
"Schools were promised new projects but were left waiting, often for years, on unfunded, bespoke, expensive plans,” she said.
Bishop said funding for school maintenance work was increased $880m through the 2024 and 2025 budgets.
"This more than doubled the maintenance funding increases in the previous six years combined."
He said the government had "significantly reduced" the cost of building a classroom through increased use of offsite building and repeatable designs.
583 classrooms were built in 2025, 31% more than in 2023.
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