The long saga of the earthquake displaced Redcliffs School in Christchurch could see the school having a new home built by the end of next year.
The government confirmed it will apply special changes under the Greater Christchurch Regeneration Act to speed up the land swap between the old school site and nearby Redcliffs Park.
The Ministry of Education plans to start site works on the new school site later this year.
The school had to vacate its original site in Redcliffs after a cliff collapse made its original site unsafe.
It has been using the Van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Sumner as a makeshift site.
Now a new school will be built on the Redcliffs Park site, that will be sold to the crown, and the old school site will be turned into a park in return.
In exchange the council gets the old school site, to turn into a new park.
The school will reopen at a brand new site just down from the old one, which had to be abandoned after a massive aftershock in June 2011.
The school had to fight to survive after former Education Minister Hekia Parata announced the closure of the school, but the community fought hard to reverse that decision.
SHARE ME