Connections Archive

Brenton Stacey
Public relations officer

Avondale College will spend $530,000 on capital works this year under an agreement that sees its owner, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, return money paid as rent.

The agreement is not new--it began in July 2005--nor is it applicable only to Avondale--the church in the South Pacific has a similar agreement with most of its entities. However, according to the terms of the agreement, Avondale cannot claim for capital works until it has accumulated one year's worth of rent in reserve. The agreement also states Avondale must use the money for capital expenditure rather than operating expense.

Avondale first made use of the agreement this past year, funding capital works including: the building of the gym; and the refurbishing of the Enquiry and Enrolment Centre, Information Technology Services, Out of the Box Cafe and rooms in women's and men's residences Andre and Watson Halls.

The capital works this year will include:
. Building a new amphitheatre on the site of the former baptismal font opposite the Chan Shun Auditorium ($60,000 matched dollar-for-dollar by a donor)
. Building an awning in front of the Chan Shun Auditorium ($30,000)
. Completing stages two to five of the refurbishment of the Faculty of Business and Information Technology building ($50,000 matched dollar-for-dollar by Professional Advantage)
. Extending the gym by excavating under the cafeteria ($110,000)
. Extending and refurbishing the bathroom on the first floor of Andre Hall ($100,000)
. Refurbishing the sheds on the site of the former dairy to house maintenance services ($100,000)
. Refurbishing an additional 10 rooms in Watson Hall ($60,000)
. Roofing the atrium in the Administration Building (20,000)

Avondale expects to receive an additional $20,000 per year in rent by extending the gym and an additional $12,000 by moving Maintenance to the former dairy and renting the maintenance sheds.

"The agreement works well, especially in difficult economic times, because the first thing we often sacrifice is maintenance," says vice-president (finance) Francois Keet. "And as we have seen over the past few years, it's difficult to catch up."

Caption: Avondale will build an amphitheatre on the site of the former baptismal font opposite the Chan Shun Auditorium using the return of money paid as rent to the Seventh-day Adventist Church.