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Seismic upgrades speed along in Richmond

As the Richmond school district plans upcoming seismic upgrades, the Ministry of Education will not fund any more portables and has asked the school district to use surplus space during construction.
Richmond school district
File photo

As the Richmond school district plans upcoming seismic upgrades, the Ministry of Education will not fund any more portables and has asked the school district to use surplus space during construction.

School trustee Debbie Tablotney, who is the chair of the Facilities and Building Committee, said how accommodations are done will be decided on a school-by-school basis as the school district prepares for a possible earthquake.

“We could fund (portables), but that’s a pretty costly endeavour,” Tablotney said.

Seven seismic upgrades to Richmond schools will be launched over the next year and one is already under way.

Tablotney said she’s pleased that the ministry has funded the seismic project planning and this has helped moved Richmond’s projects forward.

“We’re really appreciative we’re moving forward on this because we ultimately want our school safe and functioning at top efficiency,” she said.

This is Tablotney’s fifth term as a trustee, and she said she’s seen a “tremendous shift” in the past year in how these projects are being moved forward.

Currently Cook elementary is being seismically upgraded to the tune of $13.9 million, and several more construction projects are expected to start this spring and summer.

Click here to see a map of the current and upcoming seismic projects.

The budget for seismic upgrades at Hugh Boyd secondary is set at $10.7 million and the school district is currently waiting for the building permit.

Tait and Ferris elementary schools are just undergoing design work and construction is expected to start at Tait in May and at Ferris in July. Ferris elementary will have four portables to accommodate the construction. Upgrades to Tait will cost $7.6 million and upgrades to Ferris will be $8.5 million.

Construction for Steves elementary is targeted to start in November whereby the wing of the building built in 1964 will be replaced and the rest will be seismically upgraded.

Graph seismic
These are target dates for seismic projects in Richmond.

The school district has submitted a project definition report to the Ministry of Education for Tomsett elementary with a recommendation for both seismic upgrading and a six-classroom addition.

The sections of Mitchell elementary built in 1975 and 1992 will be seismically upgraded but the pre-1975 section of the school will be replaced. The administrative block at Steves elementary will be replaced and the school will be seismically upgraded. Construction is planned to start in November and completion is targeted for August 2021.

In June, the school district submitted the names of 11 elementary schools to the Ministry of Education to be considered for a feasibility study and the response from the ministry is expected at the end of this month.

“There will be some growing pains and some shuffling, but the goal is safe facilities,” Tablotney said.