The Dunedin school is weeks away from opening the doors of its inflatable tennis dome, an innovative world-class indoor sports venue.
The dome was inflated for the first time yesterday, and worked by constantly pumping air into the interior of the structure.
Rector Richard Hall said it was believed to be the first facility of its kind in the southern hemisphere.
It was thrilling to have the dome nearing completion.
Inflatable tennis domes were popular in Europe and several similar domes were installed at Wimbledon.
Mr Hall said while it would be a dream for an old boy to one day represent the school at the tournament, the facility would have wider importance for the Dunedin community.
"Certainly it’s about tennis, and some elite tennis, but it’s actually about health and recreation for a whole group of people.
The dome had been nearly two years in the planning and execution, a timeframe extended by some Covid-19 complications.
Specialists from Europe had flown out to work on the dome last year, but were caught out by the country’s return to lockdown conditions and had to return home.
That led to delays.
There would be two more weeks of interior work before the courts would be ready to see a tennis ball struck in anger.
Mr Hall said there were no plans for who would get the honour of the first serve inside the dome.
"There’ll be people lining up and I think a few prominent tennis people in our school community deserve to have the first hit."
