In 2019, the Government announced $80 million in funding to rebuild the school and Ashburton College.
About $30 million was for two learning hubs (35 classrooms), a new auditorium, library and an administration block at Ellesmere College.
But board chair Vanessa-Amy Greenwood said the school community is “extremely disappointed” with the Ministry of Education which has now only committed to the first stage of the auditorium and one learning hub.
The further stages are “on hold” while the ministry waits for additional funding.
Ministry head of property Sam Fowler confirmed it will seek the required funding to "support the full delivery of the redevelopment".
“In the case of Ellesmere College, the development also has some land and infrastructure complexities that need to be managed,” Fowler said.
“As a result, the forecast cost to deliver the scope of works has more than doubled since the project was budgeted for and announced.
“The ministry is committed to this redevelopment and delivering new, fit-for-purpose facilities for Ellesmere College.
“The school and the ministry are working together with the contractors and designers to deliver the school’s priorities through an immediate first stage and set the platform for the full redevelopment.”
Greenwood said the school was working on an 18-month timeline for the whole project.
But the new staged approach will push the earliest possible completion date out to 2028, depending on all funding being available and there being no delays between stages.
“This means that many of our current students will never get to utilise our new, purpose-built learning spaces and will remain in our outdated and rundown prefabricated buildings," Greenwood said.
“To us, this is completely unacceptable, particularly as our community is set to dramatically expand with multiple housing developments coming online.”
In 2019, current Prime Minister Chris Hipkins was the Minister of Education. When the Government announced the funding for Ellesmere and Ashburton colleges, he acknowledged the reasons for Ellesmere's rebuild.
“The school buildings were built in the 1970s and 1980s and there has been no significant upgrade since then,” Hipkins said at the time.
“All but two of the school’s buildings are temporary relocatable classrooms and have experienced significant wear and tear. That’s not good enough and we are fixing it.”
