By Phil Pennington of RNZ

The rebuild of a leaking school with a majority Māori student roll is now set for 2025 after officials belatedly realised it is also earthquake-prone.

The Ministry of Education has vacillated for a decade on deciding between the repair or rebuild of 15-year-old Taihape Area School, which began leaking from the start.

Its classrooms have needed lots of extra heat pumps to stay warm and its toilets have often backed up.

It was poised for repairs in 2019, but that did not happen; then poised for a rebuild in 2022, when the ministry opted instead to try to find cost savings.

The ministry has now revealed to RNZ that just last year, engineers gave it more bad news - in January, they found the main teaching block and gym have just a 15% seismic rating (NBS, or New Building Standard).

The new aim is to demolish and replace the main block and strengthen the gym.

A design is being finalised.

“The design for the new facilities will need to continue to meet our value-for-money requirements,” the ministry’s leader of infrastructure and digital, Scott Evans, told RNZ on Wednesday.

“The project remains a priority for investment and an amended scope has been confirmed.”

The school had a long wrangle with officials over an educational farm they took off it, despite a ministerial promise the school could keep it.

While the school’s other building problems have been extensively reported publicly, it was not until January last year that a detailed seismic assessment done for the ministry showed the structural flaws.

The school got independent advice then went ahead with some stop-gap strengthening work that was finished in September 2023, Evans said.

The leaking roof - inverted like a “V” in a snow zone - had been repaired, he said.

A “substantial” number of heat pumps had been replaced and extras added, and the ventilation system was worked on.

60% of the school’s students are Māori. The roll is forecast to grow to 320.

RNZ has approached the school for comment.

- RNZ