Auckland Girls' Grammar principal Ngaire Ashmore and the unusable gymnasium. Photo: Supplied
A central Auckland school which has a gym that is sliding down a slope is frustrated by the delays in fixing it.
It is one of many schools around the country attempting to get their building projects over the growing hurdle rising costs and mounting paperwork
Auckland Girls' Grammar students have had no gym for four years, since cracks in the floor were spotted. The girls have to walk a kilometre to the YMCA if they want to practice basketball.
"I'm relying on the experts.... who told us that it wasn't safe, and who now tell us that with the right remediation that it will be safe," principal Ngaire Ashmore said.
"What worries me is [that with] not enough money to actually complete the project, will we be compromising on areas of safety?
"That is my biggest worry."
There was a small fire and asbestos worries at the gym four years ago.
"We noticed cracks in the floor," Ashmore said.
Experts took a look and shut the building down.
"The reinforcements of the floor and the footing seemed to be sliding down the bank.
"We haven't been back in our gym since."
Auckland Girls' Grammar students have had no gym for four years. Photo: Supplied
The floor inside remains cracked and slumped in one corner.
A whole cohort of Year 13s had never had a gym, Ashmore said.
The 1100-student school is built on a steep street near Karangahape Road in central Auckland. It has other parts of its ageing buildings where upgrades are taking place.
It does not have its own fields, and Ashmore suspected a boys' school that was similarly constrained in sports would not be treated the same way.
"I do, I do think there's a bit of that," she said.
The crack experts were the first in a procession of "maybe 20 or 30 experts" over the years.
The ministry-funded consultants initially told the school it needed a whole new gym. But in 2022 the ministry intervened, and said the existing one could be fixed, said Ashmore.
Last year the gym flooded during the Anniversary Day deluge.
Auckland Girls' Grammar principal Ngaire Ashmore said a whole cohort of Year 13s had never had a gym. Photo: Supplied
The ministry conceded the $4m in funding would not be enough for the fix, but that was okay as they could just apply for more, the principal told RNZ.
But that was not the case.
"When we had our first meeting of this year with our ministry officials, I think the first thing that was said is that, 'Just letting you know, there is no more money'."
RNZ's stories about the wider issues facing school projects then broke, with a government directive for a widespread review.
"My heart sank because I knew we needed at least another $2 million," Ashmore said.
Most recently, the ministry has asked for a new business case, which will be submitted this week, and the school is hoping for a clear answer in several more weeks.
Ashmore had no choice but to trust the ministry as the school could not afford to hire its own independent expert advisers.
Ashmore said she had lost confidence in the process.
"We have a school of 1100 young women who traipse into the city to get the best education and we just don't have the facilities to deliver.
"And that's not acceptable and not okay."
The ministry said on Tuesday that the gym required maintenance, structural repairs and to make sure it met building code requirements.
Some funding was approved in March 2023 and "we are currently preparing a business case for the full funding", it said.
