High school design months away

Rob Learn

February 4, 2010

ALMAGUIN – Getting a peak at what the new high school will look like may be about two months away, says the school board’s project coordinator.

Phil Geden, of the Near North District School Board (NNDSB), says the school plans are with the architects and won’t be back until the end of February, and that it will likely be another month before they’re ready for public consumption.

“We’re hoping by the end of March to release the tenders, with them being awarded in time for construction to start in the middle of May, and that will put us on track for the Sept. 1, 2011 opening date,” said Geden. Current deadlines have architects creating what is known as an “80 per cent drawing” that is due by March 1, when it will be delivered to Ministry of Education (MoEd) cost accountants, who are believed to give final approval by the end of that month.

Geden says an “80 per cent drawing means that the detailed drawing of what the architect is creating is 80 per cent done. It won’t have every faucet, but all of the big ticket items will be there to calculate the costs of the building.”

Geden says that while there is still another MoEd approval to go through before tendering begins, he believes that the architects, NNDSB and MoEd won’t be long getting the design right and within budget.

“We’re hearing from the architects that they are confident that they are going to make it (under budget) and the Ministry is quite confident as well. They’ve been working well with us all the way along,” said Geden.

Geden says that as far as the board and the MoEd is concerned, this is a calm period as the architects draw up the final plans for the school that was approved in early January. But the calm will be short lived.

“Things are going to pick up pretty quickly come the end of March,” said Geden.

Still, the board is preparing to ready itself to start construction as soon as possible.

Tuesday was the last day for general contractors to submit expressions of interest for building the new Almaguin Highlands Secondary School. The board, with assistance, plans to narrow the list of contractors who will then be invited to bid on the school when plans are finalized and approved.

“Hopefully we’ll get it narrowed down to six or seven really top-notch contractors,” said Geden.

Asked about the Sept. 1, 2011 deadline, Geden said, “Right now it is tight, there’s no doubt about it, but we’re still in the realm where we can see making that deadline realistically.”