New $4.5m facility opens at Waiariki

A new $4.5 million building for Waiariki Institute of Technology's Maori school has officially been opened.

Featuring a 200-seat lecture theatre, 12 class rooms, a cafe, offices and an outdoor amphitheatre, the new Te Tahuhuroa o Ihenga building at Waiariki's Rotorua campus was opened yesterday by the Governor-General, Sir Jerry Mateparae.

A blessing of the new facility was held during a dawn ceremony which was followed by the official opening.

The 1800sq m building will host the institute's Maori development, social sciences, languages and humanities schools.

The Governor-General was among the speakers at the ceremony and lunch and he also unveiled the first plaque outside the new building after a powhiri and speeches at the institute's Tangatarua Marae.

The new building is the first part of a major campus redevelopment featuring a central boulevard design that will stretch the length of the campus, creating better foot traffic and linking all the campus buildings to the marae.

A new school of nursing and health studies building is next on the redevelopment plans, with a $6 million state-of-the-art facility scheduled to open in 2014. Former Waiariki Institute of Technology chief executive Pim Borren attended yesterday's high-profile event, travelling from Brisbane where he is chief executive of Southbank Institute of Technology.