Paving and Concrete for Schools and Education

School paving has a deadline that does not move. The work has to happen in the holidays, it has to be finished before the first bell of term, and it has to stand up to several hundred children running across it every day for the next twenty years. Pavecraft has laid courtyards, covered walkways, hard play areas, car parks and footpaths for Auckland schools for over 20 years, including the performing arts precinct at Diocesan School for Girls, Avondale College, Otahuhu College and the Whangaparaoa childcare centre.

Built for the school holidays

We plan school work backwards from the first day of term. That means the design and the paver supply are confirmed before the holidays start, the excavation and base are done in the first days, and the laying, jointing and cleaning are finished with time in hand. Where a job is too big for one break we stage it, fence the unfinished area off and make sure every building is reachable when school comes back. Our crews are Sitewise Gold accredited, which most school boards and their project managers now require before anyone comes on site.

What we build for schools

• Courtyards and outdoor learning areas in pavers or exposed aggregate concrete, with seating walls and planters built in.
• Covered walkways and main paths between blocks, laid flat and drained so they are not slippery in winter.
• Hard play areas and courts - large plain or coloured concrete slabs with the falls and joints placed so they stay level and crack free. See concrete.
• Car parks, drop off zones and kerbing including bus bays, pedestrian crossings and the kerb and channel around them. See kerbing.
• Entrances and forecourts in granite or natural stone where the school wants a formal front door.
• Retaining walls, steps and ramps on sloping sites, with compliant gradients and handrail footings. See siteworks.

Surfaces that survive children

A school surface takes more punishment than almost any commercial one. Pavers need a deep, well compacted base or they rock and lip; concrete needs the right mix and joint spacing or it cracks where the ball games are. We lay everything to carry the load it will actually get, not the load a domestic driveway gets, and we use finishes with enough texture to grip in the wet without grazing knees. It is the reason the paving we laid at schools years ago is still level.

Repairs between terms

Most Auckland schools have older paving that has settled or lifted where tree roots have gone under it, and every lipped paver on a school path is a trip hazard and a liability. We lift and relay settled areas, replace broken pavers to match, cut and repair concrete around root damage and rejoint whole courtyards in a single holiday break. A property manager or business manager who sends us a photo in term time will usually have a price before the holidays start.

Working with the Ministry, boards and project managers

We are used to working under the Ministry of Education's property processes and alongside the project managers and main contractors who run school building programmes, and we are comfortable as a subcontractor on a larger build or as the direct contractor for a board of trustees. Either way we bring our own crews, our own machinery and a programme the school can hold us to.