Cathedral Grammar School in Christchurch is getting a new playground feature but not just your standard swing set however - a 1.7-tonne, 11-metre long stainless steel slide.
The slide, made by Falcon Manufacturing in Christchurch, was lifted by crane this morning and placed in its new home off a two-storey viewing deck on a classroom roof.
It is one of the finishing touches for the construction site - a design of open-plan classrooms that wrap around an astroturf courtyard.
The design team includes Dr Andrew Barrie, a Kiwi professor of architecture, and internationally renowned Tezuka Architects from Tokyo.
Quantity Surveyor for the School, Dean Weston, says the slide arriving was as if "Christmas had come early".
The project has proved challenging he says, as it extends a design approach first developed within Japan's technologically advanced construction industry. Mr Weston says the ideas were modified to fit New Zealand building standards.
There are 36 laminated veneer lumber trusses that make up the classrooms' bones, which have been bolted together and slotted into place - a New Zealand first. Richard Steeman of Contract Construction says the process has been reasonably complicated but the team has got the job done.
The School has been using Portacoms for five years after the 2011 Canterbury earthquakes destroyed two of its buildings.
Construction has taken eight months so far, with the completion date set for February 1 in time for the first school bell of the year.
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