Have you admired the LEGO model of the strengthening works for the Waikato Cathedral Church of St Peter?
It was built by Darren Bryan, a teacher and LEGO enthusiast who is the Dean of Year 6 at Southwell School. We caught up with Darren to chat about the build.
Darren has loved LEGO since he was eight and vividly remembers, “An amazing Christmas morning waking up to two iconic sets, the Yellow Castle and the Galaxy Explorer.” Now part of the HamLUG (Hamilton LEGO User Group), Darren and the group regularly create and display their models across the region, raising money for charity.
The idea of building the Cathedral was sparked by a previous project inspired by LEGO’s annual Christmas Village. Darren designed a church himself to add to the village collection. As the model developed, he realised it closely resembled Southwell Chapel. He adapted it further and eventually gifted it to Southwell School. The chapel took two years to complete and is on display at the school. Darren calls it his favourite creation.
This project caught people’s attention. In August 2024, he was approached about building a LEGO version of the Cathedral to showcase proposed updates and support the strengthening appeal.
When asked where to start with a project of this scale, Darren said he began, “By coming up to the Cathedral and taking a lot of photos, just looking to see how it would be done.” He then reviewed the building plans. He enlarged the floor plan to the size of the model, laid LEGO bricks over the top, and began to build a draft.
“It was a big, bright, colourful LEGO model with multicoloured bricks. I used whatever I could find,” Darren said. The draft was designed to test scale, shape, size and structure.
While building the draft, Darren also used software to create a digital version. “This creates a much more accurate model,” he said. The program allowed him to build a precise version on screen and generate a complete list of required bricks. This step made it possible to calculate costs and plan the build down to every piece.
The first LEGO brick was laid on Saturday, 4 January 2025. He tracked every hour and spent 206 hours over 13 months to complete what is now his largest original LEGO build.
“One of the biggest challenges was geometry.” Many parts of the Cathedral are based on 135-degree angles, which had to fit together seamlessly. Some sections depart from the main angles, making it difficult to visualise the finished product while building.
Darren also added small details to make the model accurate. “Accuracy is very important,” he said. In addition, some images were printed directly onto LEGO pieces, and internal lighting was built in stages. He started from the altar end, including the large stained-glass windows, and worked through the rest of the building, adding proposed additional structures last.
He hopes the model helps people appreciate the Cathedral, sparks conversation, and inspires interest in the strengthening appeal.
We cannot thank Darren enough for his incredible creation. The LEGO Cathedral is a testament to creativity, patience and care.
If you haven’t yet viewed the model, please feel free to come to the Cathedral, where it currently resides.
Further information on the strengthening project can be found here.