Red X iconGreen tick iconYellow tick icon
OBS summer works 2024

Summer works at the Otago Business School have kicked off.

Summer promises to be a busy time for Otago’s Property and Campus Development Division, with a wide range of projects in store.

Preparing to reopen a college after a year’s closure, refreshing student spaces on campus while integrating cultural design narratives, finishing a student wellness hub, and taking care of a heritage building are all part of the summer line up.

Also included is the closure of the Hercus Building for a week, 7-15 December inclusive, for the replacement of electrical distribution boards.

The summer works align with the University’s Pae Tata Strategic Plan to 2030 which includes being a Te Tiriti-led University, enabling transformative learning and student experiences, having distinctive campuses, and ensuring facilities remain useable, fit for purpose and in good condition into the future.

A full list of summer projects is:

Central campus – Dunedin

  • Information Services Building. A government-funded central wellness hub for supporting students’ mental health and general wellbeing should be finished by Semester One, opposite the library, on the former University shop site.
  • University Union café Auahi Ora. A new conservatory and outdoor eating area, Expected to be finished soon after the start of Semester One 2025.
  • Consumer and Applied Science (CApSc) Building. Following completion of seismic strengthening, the interior fitout has started and will continue through 2025.
  • Marama Hall. On-site investigations and initial Heritage restoration work has begun and will continue through 2025.

Arts

  • Arts Building. A space for Māori and Pacific student advisors and students will be created in the large first-floor entrance lobby and its offices – cultural design narratives will be integrated into the new paint, carpet, and window manifestations (on the glass).
  • Burns 2 lecture theatre. A full interior refurbishment, similar to Castle 2 last year but with upcycled existing seating.
  • Richardson Building.
    • Seismic strengthening works have started in Te Tumu and the Richardson stairwells
    • Electric distribution boards are being replaced throughout the building. Timing will be negotiated with those affected.

College of Education

  • Administration Block first floor, and Education and Research Centre - Te Whare Raupī. Student common rooms are being painted and carpeted, and getting new furniture, window manifestations, kitchenette alterations, and LED lights – with integrated cultural design narratives. This work could continue into Semester One.
  • Administration Block. The roof is being prepared for painting in the first quarter of 2025.

Colleges

  • Arana College. Being recommissioned to open for 2025, after a year of seismic strengthening and fire compliance upgrades.
  • Caroline Freeman College East. Rata Block roof is being replaced and exterior walls painted.
  • Cumberland College. Five chimneys lowered to roof level as a seismic precaution.

Health precinct

  • Hercus Building. Closing for a week – from 7-15 December inclusive. Electrical distribution board replacement. Generators will run services as required.
  • Adams Building. 1970’s foyer refresh, with new carpet, paint, ceiling, and LED lights.
  • Wellcome Building. Progressive upgrades on the 1960s building this summer break:
    • Ground floor offices’ concrete block walls insulated, covered with plasterboard, and painted. Curtains swapped for blinds. Corridors plastered and painted. This work will continue into Semester One.
    • Several small first-floor anatomy laboratories refitted to suit requirements.
  • Lindo Ferguson Building. Four ground floor laboratory ceilings replaced, and LED lights installed.

Human Resources

  • Leith Walk House.
    • The building exterior, west side and part of the north, will be repainted, and any minor repairs.
    • Computer-based training room 2.24 will become a more flexible training space, by repainting, carpeting, and installing new furniture.

Library

  • Bill Roberston Library. Carpet will be replaced next month where needed.

Otago Business School

  • Eastern side ground and first-floor lift lobbies. All 1990’s wall tiles removed (coming loose, no replacements) and walls painted. Two side-by-side lifts will be closed at a time while the work is done.
  • North exterior patios. Tiles repaired.

Sciences

  • Geology Building. The historic stone building’s exterior timber will be painted on the southern end (next to Marama Hall) and part of the Quad side. The rest will be painted during the following three summer breaks.
  • Psychology House, 93 Union Street. Exterior weatherboards are being replaced as necessary during the semester break with a view to painting the exterior later.
  • School of Physical Education, Sport and Exercise. The former lab annex (corner of State Highway One south and Union Street) is being reroofed and its exterior walls painted. The former annex houses ground floor teaching labs and first floor offices.

Christchurch

  • University of Otago, Christchurch. Wai-Ora. Following the final concrete pour on the roof level in late November and completion of the primary structure, work has shifted to finishing the building’s exterior façade and progressing the interior fitout throughout 2025. This project is scheduled for completion in mid-2026.

Wellington

  • Prefabricated buildings, Owen Street. The exterior of all three connected teaching spaces – which also house a student common room – will be painted.
  • Link Building. Upgrading the main switchboard for levels C and D has started and should finish during Semester One.
Burns refurbishment 2024

Inside Burns 2 lecture theatre, Teltrac technology technician Calum Cameron is writing numbers on network and audio-visual cables to identify them so he knows where to install them. He is part of a family team, with his father lead technician Craig Cameron.

Back to top