On top of the usual summer maintenance, there are a number of summer capital projects taking place all over School District 52 over the summer months.
The two largest projects currently underway are both taking place at Charles Hays Secondary School, the first of which being the continuation of the building envelope project.
Most of the windows on the outside of the classroom block have been replaced, with workers pushing hard to finish that portion of the project up. For every window that workers have to replace, they need to repair the wall on the inside of the building.
McIntyre says that the interior area around the library and the front courtyard should be complete by end of next week, giving workers a week to finish any cleaning.
Before school starts up again, workers will be focusing on completing the inside updates, so that come September they can continue on with work on the outside of the school with respect to the insulation and siding.
“Putting on the insulation and siding is a reasonably quiet part of the work. We pushed them quite hard at the beginning of the summer to ensure that all the noisy taking off of bricks was done over the summer when it wouldn’t be disturbing classes. They’ve done very well with that,” commented McIntyre.
The budget for repairs to the school’s building envelope is estimated at about $8.6 million. The Province has budgeted $7 million in this high-priority building envelope repair, and the Prince Rupert school district will contribute the remaining $1.6 million. Originally the project was suppose to be done at the end of October, however it is now expected to be complete in early-December.
The second large project happening at CHSS over the summer is the replacement of the turf on the track. At the end of June, the Prince Rupert Port Authority, the Prince Rupert Youth Soccer Association, School District 52 and the City of Prince Rupert all announced they would be contributing funds towards new state-of-the-art turf to replace the nearly two-decade old turf, that was beginning to feel more like sandpaper when you fell on it than grass.
A couple weeks ago the crew ran out of rubber to be installed between the ground and turf, so the process was slowed down for a bit, however the rubber has now arrived and workers can now move on with the replacement. The actual turf is expected to start being put in at the end of the week, or early next week.
Anyone passing by Prince Rupert Middle School in recent weeks has most likely noticed that half of the front lawn has been dug up. This is where the school’s playground will be installed, with it expected to be in before school starts in September.
Because the muskeg in Prince Rupert tends to be so deep, workers had to dig deep and install large steel beams underground for the playground to sit on. Workers were slowed down after an unexpected problem with the location of the gas line arose, however the issue has been dealt with and now workers are moving on with the project.
According to McIntyre, most of the equipment is already assembled and will install very quickly.
Another project happening over the summer is the replacement of the gymnasium floor at Pineridge Elementary. Come September, students will be getting their exercise on a more environmentally friendly surface with a new water-based finish, as opposed to the traditional oil-based finished.
Finally, a project that is currently in the works is the proposal for a new band room at CHSS. McIntyre says that the project is just at the point of trying to get a tendered package out
“We have a substantial amount of the money committed towards that project and we want to get it out for tender to get a firm price as to what it is to identify if there is a gap, and if so how much it would be,” he explained.
The Performing Arts Studio would be located adjacent to CHSS, and would be used by students in the day and then would be available for community groups in the evening.