A towering building rising at Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College is the latest sign of one of the city’s most ambitious school expansion plans, expected to cost tens of millions of dollars.
Parents late last month received emails showing the steel framework of a new year 12 and 13 building already standing well above other classrooms at the school’s Pakūranga grounds.
It’s part of a master-planned redevelopment of Saint Kentigern’s Remuera and Pakūranga campuses that, in 2020, was revealed to have a $61m budget.
The new building comes on top of the school’s recent $3.7m purchase of a 413ha waterfront farm in the Coromandel.
Damon Emtage, Saint Kentigern College principal, said the new Pakūranga building, expected to open in 2027, would add 42 classrooms, a large amphitheatre forum and state-of-the-art facilities to cope with an influx of new students.
It would be based on a “village square” design concept.
“In this concept, there are dynamic breakout spaces, social areas, and ‘me’, ‘we’, and ‘us’ spaces,” Emtage said late last year.
‘Me’ spaces were designed to be comfy, informal meeting and study areas for small student groups, ‘we’ spaces would accommodate medium-sized groups, and ‘us’ spaces included the forum and large meeting rooms where whole classes and house groups could convene, he said.
In the competitive world of private education, the new building aimed to help the school offer personalised, individual-focused education to create “young people of character”, Emtage said.
The new building replaces what had been the Wingate block and Goodfellow Centre, including the school’s library, after demolition took place in the second half of 2024.
Once constructed, the amphitheatre forum would also be opened to outside groups, such as school alumni and support and advocacy organisations.
Tutor rooms and spaces for pastoral care were also top-of-mind considerations during planning for the building, the school said.
Planning has also commenced on a “cutting-edge performing and creative arts centre” that is intended to be constructed after the year 12 and 13 building is finished.
The Pakūranga redevelopment is part of a broader master plan confirmed by Saint Kentigern’s Trust Board in 2018.
That earlier focused on redevelopment at the Shore Rd campus for junior students in Remuera.
It included a new purpose-built girls’ school, new facilities at the boys’ school, a new specialist Arts, Science and Technology block available to both primary schools, and a new preschool.
Earlier, the Pakūranga campus had its Chapel of Saint Kentigern renovated and updated.
The school also spent $3.7m with help from its alumni recently buying Wilson Bay Farm on the Coromandel waterfront.
Described as a “coastal trophy farm” by real estate advertisements, the farm is envisioned by the school as a third campus, where students from Year 4 to 13 can travel annually once opened for students in 2027.
That would enable students to undertake scientific studies and explore agricultural careers on the working farm.
The farm – which includes an “iconic wool shed” – also offers opportunities for water sports, fishing, bush walks, horse trekking and magnificent views, according to its former real estate ads.
Initial plans for the farm include accommodation and lodges for about 100 students.
A Herald report in 2020 found Saint Kentigern was New Zealand’s fifth wealthiest private school with $126m in net assets.
It now joins other Auckland schools such as St Cuthbert’s College and Mt Albert Grammar in owning rural campuses.
St Cuthbert’s owns Kahunui in the Bay of Plenty, which gives its year 10 female students the chance each year to spend a month exploring the surrounding wilderness and outdoor adventures.
Mt Albert Grammar, a public school, also uses an 8.1ha working livestock farm to educate 160 students annually in agricultural and horticultural science.
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