It's shiny, has that brand new smell, and ready for use.

The new gymnasium at Armstrong's Pleasant Valley Secondary School is open, more than three years after the old facility underwent the wrecking ball.

The first official physical education classes take place Thursday, Jan. 9, and the first official team event in the new gym goes tonight, Thursday, with the PVSS Hawks' junior boys basketball team having the honours as they host Salmon Arm's J.L. Jackson Jays.

Game time is 6:30 p.m.

The project is not 100 per cent complete as there are some minor issues to finish, but it is available for the students' use.

North Okanagan Shuswap School District announced in May 2021 that the old PVSS gym would have to be replaced after work to retrofit the gym showed fire damage at the school in the 1970s had not been finished properly and would have to be fixed.

That led to the decision to build a new gym, which the district hoped to have open in February 2024.

Since the construction, PVSS fall/winter indoor sports teams such as volleyball and basketball have been playing home games at other schools and/or at Armstrong Parks and Recreation facilities. Physical education classes have also used local facilities for classes.