Inside: University of Otago's brand new $292m Christchurch facility
A new $292 million eight-storey training and research facility is to open in Christchurch, with the capacity to boost the number of University of Otago medical students who complete their studies in the city.
A staged opening starts with a ceremony on Friday.
Wai Ora, by the Ōtākaro-Avon River, sits among the health precinct and aims to unite 1500 researchers, clinicians, educators and students in one facility.
It will expand the university’s capacity for biomedical research and clinical trials.
Wai Ora is on the banks of Christchurch's Avon River. Photo / Anna Heath
Professor Suzanne Pitama from the University of Otago told the Herald that it will increase capacity for students, too.
“Especially postgraduate students, so students doing their PhD, we were very, very limited because of the lab space, the bench space, the office space. But we will be able to, I would think, [accommodate] 10 times more postgraduate students,” Pitama said.
“At the moment we have around about 100 PhD students. We could take up to 1000 students because we’ve got the capacity and the facilities that would not only attract them but allow them to do the research they want to do.”
University of Otago Professor Suzanne Pitama. Photo / Anna Heath.
Built on land purchased soon after the 2011 Christchurch Earthquake, Wai Ora will enlarge teaching and research spaces.
Pitama says the original facility, built in the 1970s, had been outgrown.
“I think that this building really, to me, demonstrates the University of Otago’s commitment to Ōtautahi, that we’ve been here 53 years and we intend to stay a lot longer,” she said.
Pitama says the benefits to Canterbury are multilayered.
“Training the health workforce which the majority stay here in Christchurch, being able to provide a centre of research, excellent in terms of the updated labs and clinical trials units, so that we also attract back our own talent, back into the Christchurch community to give forward,” Pitama said.
“Especially the clinical trials unit, giving the people of Christchurch an opportunity to be part of clinical trials of things like pharmaceuticals, but also particular types of treatment and technology that they don’t have available to them through the public system.”
The atrium at Wai Ora. Photo / Anna Heath.
Christchurch is fast establishing itself in the health sector and Wai Ora will provide research talent.
“Working alongside ChristchurchNZ, who are bringing in industry, especially med-tech industry into Christchurch, we can provide them the workforce they need to really embed themselves here in Christchurch,” Pitama said.
The exterior of Wai Ora uses artistic cladding to reflect the ripples on the river.
“When you’re standing within the building you can see the ripples, so it was to play against that water feature and especially given that the building is called Wai Ora – the essence of living, of water. So it was a nice play on that.”
Students have already given it a nickname – though Pitama sees it as a term of endearment.
“The cheese grater. The materials that have been used remind our students of a cheese grater.”
Mike Thorpe is a senior multimedia journalist for the Herald, based in Christchurch. He has been a broadcast journalist across television and radio for 20 years and joined the Herald in August 2024.
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