New $1.5m gym for Geraldine High
With an estimated cost of $1.5 million, building looks set to begin in August as Geraldine High School’s new gymnasium project progresses.
The project has a proposed finish date of term two 2020 and has been in the works since school principal Simon Coleman began at the school four years ago.
Coleman said planning for the project had been lengthy as there was a need to ‘‘cost refine designs’’ to fit in with the budget.
‘‘Start off with the dream, and work to what you can achieve,’’ he said.
The project is mostly funded by resources the school has allocated from their Ministry of Education (MOE) property programme money, although it is hoped a donor will step in and help.
‘‘We’d love funders or other people to help come and fund us, in other areas we’re waiting for.’’
One of these is seating for the mezzanine floor which has been removed from the original design to help reduce costs, he said.
The gymnasium will be expansive, with the bottom floor sporting a multi-purpose space, changing rooms, and a lobby, while the mezzanine floor will have another multipurpose space and an office with a view overlooking the pre-existing pool.
‘‘It’s about providing a better learning environment,’’ Coleman said.
Apart from being a space for students, the gymnasium will also be for the community, with some of its features designed with them specifically in mind, he said.
‘‘We’d like to think it would be used a lot on the weekends.’’
Along with the lobby, there will be external toilet access, a viewing platform, and an inside climbing wall, he said.
Members of the community had given a hand during the planning stage, with the Geraldine Combined Sports Group organising Global Leisure Group, a specialist sport, recreation, and community planning consultancy organisation, to facilitate a review on the school and community’s gymnasium needs.
With the gymnasium now 50 years old, Coleman believed it was ‘‘at the point where it does need to be done’’.
‘‘I actually think it’s done very well, but is very tired.’’
Once planning is finalised, the next step will be to put it to tender, and then get onto building.