Trig Road, Ministry of Education

Inspira was engaged by the Ministry of Education in September 2022 to act as Design and Project Managers to oversee the design, consenting and construction of a new school on a greenfield site in Trig Rd, as an extended Campus for Whenuapai Primary School.

The scope included widening of the public road, extensive civil works to form the building platforms, construction of car parking, bus bays and a pick-up and drop-off PUDO.

The buildings were largely off-site manufactured buildings, following factory fabrication were transported to the site and delivered onto the sculpted platforms, during coordinated works with the specialist civil contractor and main building contractor. Overlapping of the civil contractor and main contractor required significant planning and programme management, the site was zoned to achieve safe and efficient work packages operating in the same areas. Stakeholder management extended to neighbouring properties as Janine undertook a negotiation to install a haul road for the modular buildings on the northern property boundary using the existing neighbouring driveway. A significant win for the project as this allowed 2 months to be saved in construction time, and civil works could continue without buildings being brought in interrupting the onsite earthworks progress.

The site previously did not contain any public connections or infrastructure and the scope of works included specialist wastewater treatment plant and disposal requirements, and onsite stormwater management, whilst protecting the natural wetlands throughout the site. This greenfield site was highly constrained by NES (National Environmental Standards) and planning regulations new to the Auckland Region. The site occupied a wetland head that had significant freshwater ecosystems that were under threat from land use changes. Design management by Inspira ensured the health of this vital natural environment was improved and enhanced and supported commitment from the incoming school board and trustees to a restoration programme of planting, creating a natural asset for the Ministry and a community involvement in wetland education and management by local school students as part of the curriculum.

The fast-track project is scheduled to be completed in October 2023, just 13 months after Inspira (formally JVL Studio) were engaged, and included the procurement of the design consultants, civil and main contractors. The Ministry of Education classified the project in the High-Risk Projects category and we had additional reporting requirements due to the very fast programme – Inspira and the project team trailblazed this greenfield school in just over a year from start to finish. Our role also included the responsibility of obtaining 13 different resource and building consents within the required fast-track timeframes of 5 months. With limited time to gain consents, multiple strategies were executed including splitting consents to get earthworks underway earlier, instigating relationships with key qualified partners within the council that represent the MOE, plus heavily managing consultants to coordinate within the project team and deliver on time.

The partnering, engaging, and communicating with the active management team, the ministry and local mana whenua has been a success on this project. The project team facilitated a local sculptor to co-design the Pou Whenua with local iwi at the school entrance. Oversight of the carver, iwi and facilitation of a cultural narrative ensured that the artist delivered an authentic, culturally responsive experience for the site and the school.