There’s a chance New Westminster Secondary students could be moving in to their new school midway through this year – but it’s not definite yet.
Trustees received an update on the NWSS replacement project at the board’s operations committee meeting Sept. 15, held virtually via Webex.
Trustee Danielle Connelly said the question of when the new school will be ready for students to move in is very much on the minds of the community.
“That is the one and continuous question I get from everybody,” she said.
Grant Lachmuth, project officer for the NWSS construction project, told the board the project team will be better able to provide an answer once it has clarity on some of the material supply chain issues that have hampered the progress of construction since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Those supply chain challenges, along with a reduction in workforce numbers, meant the completion of the 19,837-square-metre facility was slowed and the original plan to have students move in this fall went out the window.
Connelly asked whether, if those supply chain issues can be resolved and the school can in fact be fully completed, the idea of moving students in part of the way through this school year is still possible.
Superintendent Karim Hachlaf said the idea is still on the table – provided those “ifs” are met.
“If those come to fruition, unofficially, the mid-year move is still very much a feasible option, but … there’s some contingencies there that we are working through. We’re hoping to provide an update shortly and ultimately provide some official good news on a mid-year move-in,” he said. “We’re hoping to provide that in the near future.”
Lachmuth told trustees construction is making “very good progress.”
He noted expenditures to date total nearly $80 million – about 75% of the total project costs.
Lachmuth said work is moving along well; workforce numbers are now back up to 150 to 170 workers on site each day, and most of the material supply chains have come back online.
Summer has seen a great deal of progress on the interior of the school, and Lachmuth said most classrooms are virtually finished and just awaiting the arrival of the writeable wall surfaces. Gym equipment, including scoreboards and basketball backstops, has already been installed, and the gym floor is now being put in.
Details such as railings and interior painting have been taken care of, and this month will see the installation of flooring and kitchen equipment, as well as millwork in the theatre and throughout the school.
Outdoor work, including landscaping and a Sixth Street pedestrian crossing, is also part of the current work schedule.
Lachmuth said the contractor has been exceeding WorksafeBC’s protocols for COVID-19 throughout the construction project.
“They have implemented a very stringent COVID-19 protocol,” he said.
