The community won’t have to wait any longer to see what the new high school might look like when it’s complete.
Trustees, along with New Westminster superintendent Pat Duncan, unveiled the first preliminary rendering of the new high school on Wednesday.
“Today is a momentous day in the history of the New Westminster school district,” trustee Kelly Slade-Kerr said at the event. “The New Westminster Secondary School replacement project has been on the minds of this community for many, many, many years. Many people didn’t think it would ever happen.”
The unveiling coincided with the district’s announcement it had chosen Graham Design-Builders LP and KMBR Architects Planners to build the new school.
Both firms have an extensive background in design and construction. Graham Design-Builders LP was awarded the contract to design and build the new Chilliwack Secondary School, a $51-million project that was completed in 2014. KMBR Architects Planners is currently working on Salish Secondary School, a $55.2-million project in Surrey set to open in September 2018.
“This has been an extremely vigorous process over the last year,” Slade-Kerr said.
“(The new high school is) the largest investment and most exciting, innovative public school project in the history of British Columbia, and it’s here in New Westminster. It is really incredible that we’ve reached this stage.”
Trustee and school board chair Mark Gifford echoed Slade-Kerr’s sentiments and thanked staff, the Ministry of Education and local MLA Judy Darcy for their hard work.
“A credit to the work of staff, both in the district and the leadership of superintendent Pat Duncan, who put in countless hours to making sure this could happen this year. Thank you for that,” Gifford said.
Now that the district has chosen its design-build team, staff will begin preparations for a second round of community consultations, which should take place in February as promised, according to Duncan.
“We’re still going through a process that’s called design development with the builder. At this point, we will begin construction sometime in early 2018. You’ll start seeing ground prep begin, and we will be substantially completed in May 2020,” he said.
The high school replacement is more than a decade in the making and will cost $106.5 million to complete. Construction will take place behind the existing high school while students and staff continue to use the old building.
The new school will house 1,900 students in grades 9 to 12.
New Westminster Secondary School was originally two separate schools: Vincent Massey Junior High School, which opened in 1949, and Lester Pearson Senior High School, which opened in 1954.
