00:00Finally unveiled, the vision for Charles Darwin University's new city campus is higher education
00:09that's accessible to more of the local community.
00:12This is really exciting.
00:13We've been waiting for this for a long time and here we are.
00:16There's a focus on community learning, art and science spaces to bring thousands of students
00:22closer to the city centre.
00:24Education's all about building aspiration from young kids through to adults.
00:27It's never too late to keep learning, start learning.
00:31So again, a facility that would facilitate community engagement with education was core
00:36to the ideal behind this project.
00:38This $240 million building is now officially open to the public who've been invited to
00:44see for themselves the results of eight years of hard work.
00:48The building's developers paying tribute to their workers persisting in all conditions.
00:53Even in the ground where there's no air and it's very hot, they're saturated at eight
00:58o'clock in the morning and they've got to work through until the end of the day.
01:00So hats off to all those hard working tradesmen.
01:03Not without controversy, the building design has gone through multiple iterations and the
01:08competition watchdog found its former architect tried to rig tender bids related to the project.
01:14There were also protests over the removal of two historic milkwood trees, but the site's
01:19boab tree, more than 100 years old, was saved.
01:23This whole building has been built around that tree.
01:25Why has it got that curve, that slope?
01:28It's so that the sun can get to the tree.
01:31Given the heritage of this site as the first primary school in Darwin and the tree was
01:35there then, to have that link to the future education for Territorians, I just think there's
01:39an amazing story sitting there and it's great that the tree has been there throughout all of that.
01:45The future of education in the Territory and a link to the past.
01:49For more UN videos visit www.un.org
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