Moveable sport facility

campus in McLauchlan St, Heath said.

The canopy pillars were designed to lift right out of their foundations and the turf could be pulled up too, although the school would have to look at how much wear and tear it had by then.

Six basketball hoops were added, which the students were able to contribute to the cost of after they raised $22,000 through workday fundraising efforts.

Principal John Kendal led the students in a karakia ahead of the caution tape ribbon-cutting, and encouraged the students to ‘‘get off our screens’’ and make good use of their new space.

Southern Turf synthetic turf specialist Nic Marfell said the old cracked tennis courts on the Scott St school boundary had looked the same for decades, or at least since he was a student there.

The project was a special one for Marfell, as he worked on it with his father, Lyell, who was also an old boy, and in fact Marfell’s grandfather was the fourth student to enrol at the college when it first opened.

Marfell had laid

2.7 tonnes of plaster and, as the court was marked for several sports, 1.3 kilometres of lines by hand.

‘‘That is how much love and care we put into this project, making sure the surface is smooth,’’ he said.

‘‘The wind has been our biggest delay for the job.

‘‘We laid out 22 rolls [of turf] 30 metres long, and each roll weighs about 300kg.

‘‘You think that is heavy but a wind will pick it up and blow it over the fence . . . and all the leaves on the ground blowing around will find their way to the glue, because that’s Murphy’s Law.’’

Marfell said he had been ‘‘flat tack’’ laying TigerTurf as lots of schools in the region had received funding for outdoor upgrades via the School Investment Package but he was also kept busy resurfacing courts at homes and for community groups.

Southern Turf synthetic turf specialist Nic Marfell laid 1.3km of lines on the courts by hand.