It's a great day for education, says Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell.

Today the Supreme Court announced it has upheld the Ministry of Education's case against Carter Holt Harvey over the leaky school buildings saga.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell in front of the school's leaky buildings in 2014. Dave describes today's Supreme Court decision as a 'great day for education”. Photo by: Tracy Hardy.

In 2013, the Ministry started legal proceedings on behalf of schools against Carter Holt and others, alleging they had supplied defective building products. Over the years the building company has tried and failed three times to have the Ministry's claim struck out.

Education Minister Hekia Parata says remedying the leaky school problem has an estimated total cost in excess of $1.3 billion and today's decision means a significant contribution to these costs can now be sought.

In total 53 classrooms at 16 Western Bay of Plenty schools have been affected as a result of the leaky building fiasco.

Dave says he is extremely pleased by the Supreme Court Decision and hopes it will help speed up the process of getting schools around the country fixed.

'It's a great day for education and the reason being is that the issue has effected nearly every school here in Tauranga,” he says.

'In about the late 1990's when Winston peters was the Treasury Minister he was able to get about $50m of redevelopment for Tauranga Schools. I know Tauranga Boys' and Girls' colleges and Otumoetai got about $11m each

'One of the things though was each school had different architects, we all had different builders, but we all had the same problem, and in my opinion it was all down to the materials.

'So we've been replacing the cladding because it's failed which has caused the internal framing to rot and cause all sorts of problems.”

Dave says as part of their efforts to stop the leaks the college spent $1.4m last year fixing their technology block, while the contract for the refurbishment of their gym, which is currently taking place, is $2.7m.

This is on top of about $300,000 of temporary work, which includes the installation of temporary membrane roofs, on the college's four big blocks.

'They've all had temporary repairs because there wasn't enough money in the ministry's coffers, and they're only guaranteed for up to five years at this stage,” he adds.

'I hope the ministry gets some money which will poor back into speeding up the process of getting these schools fixed. We were promised nearly two years ago that action would be taken, now it's going to be another three years at least.

'When you look at all these buildings and all the work that they need done, I'd hate to be paying the consultants' bill,” says Dave.

Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye and Education Minister Hekia Parata. Photo: Hekia Parata/Twitter

Today's Supreme Court judgement not only upholds the entirety of the Ministry of Education's position but also awards it legal costs, says Hekia Parata.

She says action was taken to protect the Crown's significant investment in education infrastructure, and to promote better building practices in the future.

'It's vital we do everything we can to ensure children learn in modern, comfortable environments that inspire them to succeed,” says Hekia.

'The Ministry of Education has been at the forefront of the leaky building issue on behalf of New Zealand schools.

'Remedying this issue has an estimated total cost in excess of $1.3 billion. Today's decision means a significant contribution to these costs can now be sought.”

Associate Education Minister Nikki Kaye says the ministry is now planning to proceed to trial, but remains open to settlement discussions with Carter Holt

She says the ministry has already repaired school buildings at greatest risk of weathertightness failure and is now targeting buildings of medium to low risk.

'We are five years through a significant programme that has involved fixing huge numbers of schools,' says Nikki.

'Over the last few years, the Government has invested more than $5 billion to ensure that more New Zealand students and teachers have the best possible modern learning environments.”

The Ministry of Education is the first Government agency to lodge a major product liability claim and has previously reached successful, out-of-court, confidential agreements with major manufacturer James Hardie, and CSR Building Products Ltd.