Media release
12 September

Cambridge High wins national schools building competition

Cambridge High School is the Building and Construction Industry Training Organisation’s (BCITO) 2007 Build-Ability Challenge champion taking out the top prize for building an outstanding purpose built rabbit hutch for the SPCA.
The Build-Ability Challenge is part of the BCITO’s Building Careers Week, being held this week to raise awareness of the building and construction industry as a positive career choice for young people.

The rabbit hutches have been constructed as part of the Build-Ability Challenge, which sees students involved in the BCITO’s school-based Elementary Construction Skills programme forming teams to complete a building project which will benefit a local community group. The challenge this year was to build a rabbit hutch for a local SPCA shelter.

Rabbit hutches were judged last week by local BCITO training advisors, who marked finished products based on workmanship and finishing, use of materials, and team dynamics. Each school also submitted a “Record of Work” which was judged by two national judges to see how the students had documented the construction, presentation, and budgeting processes.

This year’s competition attracted 18 entries from 16 secondary schools throughout New Zealand. BCITO judges commented that all entries were of an extremely high calibre and every participant should be proud of their achievements.

Judges said the Cambridge High School team presented an outstanding record of work with meticulous documentation of every step of the process, using photos, sketches and descriptions.

“They covered every aspect that we had asked for. It was hard to find any fault in the finishing and quality of their work,” BCITO Waikato region training advisor Russell Court said.

Taieri College received a Highly Commended award for their entry which demonstrated an innovative design that was well recorded. BCITO Southern region training advisor Mark Chalmers was particularly impressed with Taieri College’s high standard of carpentry skills.

BCITO chief executive Ruma Karaitiana is pleased with the success of the Build-Ability Challenge, which is now in its third year.

“We are delighted to continue our relationship with community organisations, such as the SPCA. The schools and their pupils also value this unique opportunity,” Mr Karaitiana says.

Cambridge High School’s rabbit hutch is being displayed at the school and will be donated to the Waikato SPCA on Wednesday.

The top seven schools were Cambridge High School, Taieri College, Tauranga Boys’ College, Karamu High School, Palmerston North Boys’ High School, St Peter’s College and Hawera High School – Team Two.

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