Funding announced for new school

Posted By Michael Di Massa News Staff

Posted 21 days ago

Concept rendering for the new Elk Island Catholic high school in Sherwood Park, planned to open in January 2013.

Plans for a new Sherwood Park high school took another step closer to reality on Wednesday.

The province announced a design-build agreement with Clark Builders to construct four Edmonton- and Calgary-area high schools, including one in Sherwood Park.

Total value of the contract is $96.8 million, about $40 million less than initially expected.

The new high school will be built for Elk Island Catholic Schools, and will replace Archbishop Jordan as the lone Sherwood Park high school.

The new school will be situated south of Highway 16 in the Emerald Hills subdivision between Clover Bar Road and Sherwood Drive.

"The design is already well underway and (EICS has) had full involvement," said Tracy Larsen spokesperson for Alberta Infrastructure. "We're working really closely with the school boards on it so (their schools) meet their needs."

Although the total value of the contract is just shy of $97 million, Larsen said it has not yet been worked out how much the construction of each school will cost individually.

If divided evenly, each school would have a $24.2 million budget.

Slated to open in January 2013, the Sherwood Park EICS school is expected to hold 1,400 students in Grades 9 through 12.

Chris Diachuk, EICS superintendent, said the plan is to move students into the new building for the second semester of the 2012-2013 school year, depending on the construction schedule.

As of Sept. 30, Archbishop Jordan's student population was at 846. It has a capacity of 900 students.

"We're at a situation there where we don't have any additional portables we can add on. They are in dire need of space," Diachuk said.

He said the high school has already seen some renovations and the province has added portables to help meet increasing enrollment.

The new school will have 31 permanent classrooms and a maximum of six portable classrooms.

Although the new school will handle 1,400 students, Diachuk cited the county's growth and current elementary enrollment levels in saying it may only take three to four years for the high school to reach capacity.

It will also have gymnasium space in the middle of the school, with a large gym and a smaller gym with greater space than those of Salisbury or Bev Facey high schools.

Diachuk said there are two plans being examined to continue using the current Archbishop Jordan facility, which will see its 40th anniversary in April 2010, as an elementary/junior high school once it is vacated by the high school.

"At more than $40 million under what was budgeted for these four new schools, this is great news," said Jack Hayden, Alberta's Minister of Infrastructure, in a news release.

"Through this deal, Albertans are getting incredible value for their investment as market prices in today's economy are stretching our infrastructure dollar much further."

Construction of the schools is occurring under the province's Alberta Schools Alternative Procurement II project, which "also includes 10 elementary and middle schools being constructed through a public-private partnership," the province's press release states.

The winning contractor in that bid is expected to be announced in the spring and the schools are expected to open in 2012.

All high schools and elementary schools will be built with energy conservation in mind and will target silver certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program for environmental friendliness.

Along with the Sherwood Park high school, other high schools will be built in Edmonton (750 students), Spruce Grove (1,100 students) and Calgary (1,500 students).

mdimassa@sherwoodparknews.com

- With files from Catherine Griwkowsky