Pandemic Delays ȽÁU,WEL,ṈEW̱ School Expansion Project Completion Date.
When construction began on the ȽÁU,WEL,ṈEW̱ school, the pandemic had just begun. “No one could have foreseen what would happen over these last two years” Terry Ward, the Project Manager shares.
Since the project officially began in March of 2020, the pandemic has hit the construction industry hard – lockdowns, rising material costs, supply chain issues, and labour shortages have been delaying projects worldwide.
Unfortunately, the ȽÁU,WEL,ṈEW̱ school project is no exception. As conditions change, seemingly every week, the estimated completion date has been pushed out time and time again. “It’s been frustrating. We get a new date and everyone gets excited, and then we need to push it out again.” shares Curtis Olsen, the School Board Administrator.
A few weeks ago, the hope was that school attendees would be able to move into new classrooms once they returned from the Christmas break, but the laundry list of items still missing forced the school expansion project committee to make a tough call.
Shown above: an overview of the ȽÁU,WEL,ṈEW̱ school expansion plan
“We could move the students into unfinished rooms with plywood instead of windows, exposing our students to materials present in an active construction site or tell our students the school still isn’t ready. It’s not good news to share, but we have to prioritize the education of our students and ensure they have a safe learning environment” Olsen shares.
Terry Ward, the project manager explains:
“The contractor has items on backorder, like glass for windows, with no current estimated time of delivery. We were also waiting on an elevator, which has just arrived, but now there are delays with finding an installer for the elevator. This is just an example of a few of the many things that are delaying this project. The flooding and impact on infrastructure haven’t helped shipping move any faster. When we began this project, we set expectations on delivery based on pre-pandemic conditions.”
The school expansion project, when completed, will be a huge accomplishment and asset to the W̱SÁNEĆ community. The expansion will provide 2,871 square meters of new space for existing and new students, support further SENĆOŦEN immersion and dramatically upgrade the gymnasium so it’s suitable for large community events as well as sporting events.
Until recently, the project had been relatively on time and budget, but Terry continues, “Supply chain issues compounded with labor issues have created this situation. It’s too difficult to set timelines now, so we need to leave the finish date open-ended.”
Faced with an open-ended completion date, Gord Elliott, former Operations Manager at the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board and current committee member shares:
“We have needed to adapt to the reality of this new normal and admit that we don’t know when this will be done. We are of course hoping for Family Day or Spring Break, but we don’t want to let our community down again by sharing a date we don’t know that we can deliver on.”
The ȽÁU, WELṈEW̱ school expansion project is one of, if not, the largest project in W̱SÁNEĆ history, at an over $20 million investment in W̱SÁNEĆ youth.
“The project team, consisting of over a dozen community members, have all done a great job making difficult decisions like this during the course of this project.” Elliott shares. “It’s incredibly disappointing for everyone involved. We are all doing our best to move this forward, but there are simply factors outside our control.”
To stay up to date on this project, please visit the school website.
