School looking at building new multipurpose hall

THE idea of expanding the Hawea Flat School by building a new multipurpose school and community hall is being floated.

Principal Sue Heath said yesterday projections for the next 30 years were for the school to double in size to 500 pupils.

The school’s board of trustees had looked at several options, including expanding and renovating the existing community hall.

‘‘Feedback tells us that people want to build a new, longlasting and sustainable solution for the community,’’ Ms Heath said.

Parent and architect Jessica Eyers said the idea was to create an ‘‘inspirational’’ building that was lowenergy and ‘‘comfortable all year round and kind to the environment’’.

‘‘We want to do this once and we want to do it right, so it will need to be a functional, flexible space that can grow and adapt with the students and the wider community.’’

The building would be located between the existing hall and the Camp Hill Rd entrance to the school.

The cost of the project was estimated at between $1.9 mil lion and $2.1 million.

No funding was available for the new hall from the Ministry of Education.

Concept ‘‘sketches’’ of the building will be unveiled at the school’s fair on Saturday.

PHOTO: SUPPLIED Hall welcome . . . Hawea Flat School teacher Kate Bodger (left), Finn Eyers, Louis Eyers, Briana Joyce and Kathy Pittaway (right) consider concepts for a new school and community hall.

PHOTO: MARK PRICE The existing Hawea Flat hall.