Opening celebrations

The fine cultural and sporting traditions at St Andrew’s have been further enhanced by the opening of the College’s impressive new Gym 2 and Askin Pipe Band Centre facilities.

Former Rector and gold medal winning Black Stick Olympian, Barry Maister, gave an outstanding address to the large crowd of parents and Old Collegians, including many of St Andrew’s former sporting greats, who gathered at the official opening celebrations. He shared stories from his time serving on the International Olympics Committee, encouraged students to make the most of the opportunities on offer at St Andrew’s and acknowledged that being back at the College, “tears at your heart strings”. Gym 2 has been built to support a growing roll, which has reached 1450 students. It also supports the College’s extensive sports curriculum featuring over 30 different sports, along with Elite Sports Studies and High Performance programmes for its most promising young athletes. Architects Wilkie and Bruce designed the spacious new gymnasium, which accommodates a generous competition standard, sprung beech main floor. Other features include team bench

The new Gym 2 is being utilised from morning until night.

alcoves, staff offices and meeting room, student and staff changing rooms, and four classrooms. The upstairs rooms are accessed from a gallery running the full length of the main court space, which doubles as spectator viewing. Hawkins project manager Conrad Hinchey said due to the firm’s ongoing projects on campus, he and the construction team have enjoyed seeing Gym 2 in full operation. “Often we move on and don’t really get to see people using our buildings, so it has been great to see students using the gymnasium from six in the morning until late at night.” The new Askin Pipe Band Centre, located close to the new gymnasium, was also officially opened at the ceremony. The purpose-built facilities constructed by Bushnell Builders are home to St Andrew’s highly successful Pipe Band, which now boasts 125 students, and recently won three of the six national titles on offer at the 2016 National Championships in Feilding. The original Askin Band Room was opened in 1969, and was built with the assistance of a donation from the Askin family in memory of Richard Askin who was Pipe Major in 1964, but was tragically killed in a car accident in his early 20s. The earthquakes damaged this room beyond repair. However despite being effectively homeless, the Band has continued to perform at an outstanding level, and in 2013 was crowned Juvenile World Champions. Rector Christine Leighton said it was great to welcome Barry Maister, architects Alun Wilkie and Tony Hoare from Wilkie and Bruce, and a number of contractors and loyal partners to the celebration as well as all the other guests. “We thank everyone who contributed to these wonderful new facilities, and look forward to continued sporting and cultural success during our next 100 years.”