For decades, first-time visitors to Dunedin North Intermediate have faced the challenge of finding its main entrance.
Entry to the school office is tucked away out of view of the street.
But principal Heidi Hayward said a $1.2 million construction project would finally bring the school's entrance into full view from North Rd.
"This development has been a while coming,'' she said.
"There have been a number of iterations of this particular project, but we're at the point where we hope the bulldozers will be here in December, after school has closed for the year.''
Miss Hayward said the office-administration block would be demolished, and a new wing would be built facing North Rd.
Until project completion, scheduled for June, a small music practice room would be repurposed for six months as an administration office, to house the school's office staff and the principal.
"We'll bunk in where we can.''
The school's classrooms were "absolutely beautiful, large [and] airy'' but the present office-administration block and school hall were "old and cold'', Miss Hayward said.
The school hall would be turned into a "two-way'' space with a performing arts area at the front end of the building, and a "slightly smaller'' hall for school assemblies at the other end, Miss Hayward said.
"We'll have the facilities to open them both up so that we can turn it into one big space. It uses the space well.''
The hall was used regularly outside school hours by community groups, but it was difficult to heat, she said.
To heat the hall meant heating the entire school, which was not economical, she said.
The new facility would have its own heating system, which would work independently of the classrooms.
"That should increase not only our usage, but community usage as well.
"It's a popular facility for the community. This is one of the few schools I've worked in that at 3pm, it's not empty.''
