Parts of Alpha Secondary School could meet the wrecking ball in a matter of weeks with the start of a $27.2-million partial replacement of the school.
School officials and Burnaby North MLA Richard Lee were at Alpha Monday morning for the official ground breaking on the project and to unveil design plans.
The project, scheduled for completion in fall 2018, involves the replacement of two classroom wings and seismic upgrades to the rest of the school.
The district had originally hoped to see 60-year-old Alpha replaced entirely but was told by the province funding wasn’t available.
“It’s not a new school, but given the limitations of the budget, it’s the best possible outcome,” principal Paul Fester told the NOW.
The project will increase the school’s student capacity from 1,025 to 1,100.
Besides a new classroom block, the school will also get a new science “super lab” – six classrooms that will open up onto a large lab for experiments – and a new “learning commons” to replace the current library.
Unlike a traditional library, the learning commons will have fixed shelves only along the walls, while all the shelves in the middle of the space will be on wheels.
“You can actually re-create the space for whatever kind of learning opportunities you need,” Fester said. “I’m not even going to predict what we’re going to do in it because we want it to be very flexible, so – especially as the new curriculum’s coming up – we can go ahead and use it in whichever way our teachers can imagine.”
The project will also bring much needed technical upgrades to the school, including a proper fibre-optic backbone and improved Wi-Fi.
In the next two to four weeks, once city permits are in place, crews are scheduled to begin demolition of the single-storey classroom wing, according to secretary treasurer Greg Frank.
Space in other parts of the school will be reconfigured, he said, to create extra classrooms to house students while the new classroom block is built, starting in the fall.
Students will then be moved into the new wing while the old parts of the school are seismically upgraded.
“It’s like a game of Chinese checkers where everything moves around,” Fester said of the two-year project, “but there’s a plan that’ll work really nicely for people.”
Most of Alpha Secondary is currently rated at high or highest risk of widespread damage and structural failure during an earthquake.
The province first announced seismic-upgrade funding for the school in May 2012.
Alpha hosts an open house Monday, June 27 from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. in the school library. Renderings of the project will be on display, and the project manager and principal will be on hand to answer questions.
