| 121 Northcote College & Naylor Love COMMUNITY BEST AT STEEL T T Karen Phelps Transformation underway at Northcote College The new technology block, completed in December 2025 by Naylor Love, was recently recognised with a Gold Award at the NZ Commercial Project Awards 2026. A new classroom block and a fully refurbished gymnasium have transformed Auckland’s Northcote College campus, completing the first stage of a masterplan more than a decade in the making. “This is the most significant development on the school site in the history of the school,” says Principal Vicki Barrie. “The new classroom block is a complete game changer in terms of supplying an extraordinary environment to support students and our vision for learning. The outcome is outstanding.” he origins of the project stretch back to 2014 when a fire destroyed the school’s technology block. Rather than simply replacing it, the Ministry of Education recognised that Northcote, which is situated within a special housing area, was set for significant roll growth, and commissioned a masterplan to accommodate that expansion. From 2014 to 2018, the school worked with the Ministry to develop a staged vision for the campus. Stage One, funded in 2020, originally encompassed a new gymnasium and technology block and structural strengthening and renovation of heritage buildings, one of which is nearly a century old. When government policy changed and funding constraints emerged the scope was revised. The technology block proceeded as planned and the existing gymnasium was refurbished rather than replaced. Funding for the heritage building renovation is still to be confirmed. The new technology block, completed in December 2025 by Naylor Love, was recently recognised with a Gold Award at the NZ Commercial Project Awards 2026. The building houses 37 specialist teaching spaces across two wings of three and four storeys respectively connected by a full-height glazed central atrium. The building has specialist rooms for hard materials technology and carpentry, fabric technology, design and visual communication, art, art design, photography, hospitality, professional cookery, physics and chemistry. It includes maths classrooms, a library and the learning support centre. Classrooms are designed so that learning is visible to anyone walking along the corridor. The building also features generous circulation spaces that Vicki says have made a notable difference to daily school life. “There’s no corridor crush, the acoustics are excellent and it creates a calm, warm environment,” she says. “We know the students feel respected as learners and their behaviour reflects this. They recognise they are being supported by this building to do their very best.” The sloping site presented considerable construction challenges, requiring extensive temporary works and nine K-Brace columns set 3.2 metres below the slab. Naylor Love also managed the project within a live school environment over three years. The Ministry provided modular classrooms during construction, and some school buildings were demolished to make way for the multi-storey design, a decision made specifically to preserve green space. Teachers and heads of department were engaged throughout the design process working with design company Ignite. “We were really fortunate to have Naylor Love doing this build and a former student of the school was the on-site manager. A Massey University capstone project also supported two students being employed as Naylor Love cadets,” says Vicki. “It was a well-managed and easy relationship, and we can’t recommend them highly enough.” She says the gymnasium refurbishment, completed in October 2025, proved far more complex than anticipated. Once the building envelope was opened, asbestos contamination was found to be significantly worse than expected with the removal programme expanding from an estimated 20 days to approximately six months. A major cyclone struck mid-project. Despite this Naylor Love achieved a waste diversion rate of 87.5 per cent and delivered a strengthened, fully reclad facility. “The gym hasn’t given us any more space, but it has made the facility watertight and asbestos-free,” says Vicki. • RESIDENTIAL • COMMERCIAL • PUBLIC WORKS • SCHOOLS • CHILDCARE LANDSCAPES AND CIVIL 027 580 9499 admin@dlc.net.nz landscapingauckland.co.nz
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