New secondary school site and architects announced

The site and architectural consultant for the new catholic secondary school have officially been decided.

The Huron Superior Catholic District School Board announced on Wednesday night that 20 acres of land has been purchased in the northeast end of the city for the new school.

The board purchased three parcels of land on the north side of Second Line East, in the area of the Pine Street extension, which has yet to be opened. The land is east of the intersection of Second Line East and Old Garden River Road.

“Because we’re consolidating all of your secondary schools into one site, we were trying to find a place that would be geographically centred,” said HSCDSB Director of Education John Stadnyk. “The Great Northern Rd, Second Line intersection probably typifies the geographic centre of development. It’s an ideal location and we have sufficient acreage for what we hope to build with all of the proper amenities.”

The Ministry of Education has allocated $43.4 million for the school.

“The pieces are starting to line up,” said Stadnyk. “It’s a well-funded project. I think it’s the biggest capital project in Ontario at this time.”

The architect consultant services for the project, which was also announced on Wednesday night during their monthly trustees meeting, will be the team of The Ventin Group Ltd. Architects and EPOH Inc. Architects & Engineer.

EPOH is based locally while The Ventin Group is based out of southern Ontario, with offices in five cities including Toronto, Kitchener, Brantford, London and Belleville.

The Ventin Group has been involved in school designs previously, including Huron Heights Secondary School in Newmarket, Muskoka Falls Public School in Bracebridge, Queen’s School of Business in Kingston and Superior Collegiate & Vocational Institute in Thunder Bay.

Nine proposals were received for the design, most of which consisted of a team of consultants which involved more than one firm.

Of the nine written proposals submitted, the group was shortlisted to four proponents, which were selected for interviews.

“We used criteria for ranking the interviews,” said Stadnyk. “They scored well in their interview responses and the concepts that they were presenting and their implementation plan and so on.”

According to Stadnyk, the hope is to begin breaking ground on the new school in the spring of 2013 with an anticipated opening of September 2015.

The school, which has yet to be named, will house St. Mary’s College, St. Basil Secondary and Holy Angels Learning Centre.

The naming process is also underway with submission forms available at any of the three schools involved in the consolidation, Catholic churches across the city, the HSCDSB Catholic Education Centre and on the HSCDSB website. Forms will be accepted until 4 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2012.

The new name of the school is expected to be announced in early February.

The board also noted that the new elementary school, Holy Cross, is progressing and expected to be ready for its opening in September 2012.

The board also discussed the new addition to St. Francis elementary school.

The school, which houses French immersion, will be adding three new classrooms to the school and having some work done to the parking lot area and schoolyard.

“The school at one time was dwindling in enrolment and the French Immersion has revitalized that,” said Stadnyk. “On top of the new enrolment, we have a new pre-kindergarten program that is going to be our year three site and that’s where the construction is ear-marked for, to get the proper size.”