Completion of Douro school addition over a year away

It will create 92 new student spaces

The Catholic school board expects excavation to begin either this fall or next spring on a four-classroom addition to St. Joseph School — but the actual completion will not be until up to a year later, creating 92 new student spaces and eliminating the need for portables at the Douro school.

“We expect to break ground on the project either later this fall or early in the spring and once the project commences, the timeline is 10 to 12 months for completion,” said Galen Eagle, communications manager for the Peterborough Victoria Northumberland and Clarington Catholic District School Board.

The project, funded by $3.2 million in provincial money announced in July 2020, received approval to proceed to tender for a contractor.

The project is running on time and on schedule, according to Eagle.

“We’re done a pre-qualification process with contractors for the project and we’re hoping to go out to a tender shortly.

“We’re just waiting for some architect and engineering packages, but that means we should be able to start excavating sometime this fall after we get

the municipal sign-offs,” Eagle said.

Although the funding was announced over a year ago, “with any large capital project ... there is a significant amount of procedural and approval processes that take place before the ministry grants the final approval and before ground can be broken on construction,” he continued.

“Typically, this process takes many months,” Eagle said.

St. Joseph has full mechanical ventilation, so it did not require an HVAC upgrade for COVID-19 protection.

However, the school has been provided with 10 additional standalone HEPA units to augment air filtration, Eagle said.

The Ministry of Education funding, announced last summer, is part of more than $500 million in capital funding to build 30 new schools and add 15 additions to schools across Ontario, creating more than 25,000 new student spaces and nearly 900 new licensed childcare spaces, according to the ministry.