centre of town. The events centre includes a sports hall, community room plus kitchen and a theatre hall. It never received a Code Compliance Certificate. It was at risk of being closed down in 2021 with the discovery of asbestos and other safety concerns such as broken ventilation systems, improperly installed fire dampers, concerns with theatre seating, lack of seismic restraints, non-compliant fire safety equipment, non-functioning emergency lighting, and a locked fire exit. Mackenzie mayor Graham Smith said of the building “I really want to see this building put right. We need to address it". Church All Saints, the Pukaki cooperating parish church, is located at 52 Mackenzie Drive. It is used by various Christian denominations for services. Education Twizel Area School is the sole school in Twizel, catering for Year 1 to 13 students (ages 5 to 18). Twizel Primary School and Twizel High School were established in 1970. These were merged in 1986 to form the Twizel Area School. The co-educational school has a roll of students as of In April 2020, a commissioner was made responsible for the governance of Twizel Area School. The appointment of the commissioner was made at the request of its board of trustees. In March 2021, Twizel Area School returned to being run by the Board of Trustee with the commissioner stating that "The future of the school is bright and there is a lot to look forward to". In July 2020, the New Zealand government announced a $21 million rebuild of the Twizel Area School. The relocatable classrooms would be replaced. In August 2021, the school was still awaiting plans to be developed and there was yet to be a timeframe for when construction would begin. In popular culture In the movie The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, the battle of the Pelennor Fields was filmed near Twizel, as was a scene in The Hobbit trilogy of movies where Bilbo and the Dwarves are chased across the plains by Warg riders. In 2013, the Michael Fassbender movie Slow West was partly filmed around Twizel. A short film called "Tinsel over Twizel" has been used as a proof of concept in order to then make a romantic comedy full-length movie to be filmed on location in Twizel. References Further reading External links Mackenzie District Populated places in Canterbury, New Zealand