Construction is complete, and dignitaries and others got the chance to tour a revamped Cilaire Elementary School today.
The B.C. government announced in June 2020 that the Nanaimo school would receive $11 million for seismic upgrade work. A ceremony celebrating its re-opening was held Friday, Nov. 25.
The school district said work to Cilaire includes electrical system upgrades and reinforcing of load-bearing walls, joists and frames. Work was also done on heating, air-conditioning and ventilation systems.
Pete Sabo, district executive director of planning and operations, said some upgrades are not visible.
“Essentially, all the seismic loads and the loads of the building needs to be transferred to the ground and the foundations need to be large enough to make that connection to the ground and in order to do so … there was a significant amount of underground work,” Sabo told the News Bulletin.
Greg Keller, school board chairperson, was grateful to the province for the money, which has helped to realize various improvements at Cilaire.
“We’ve been able to paint the school inside and out, upgrade the wi-fi, [install] a new elevator. We now have properly ventilated classrooms thanks to a new HVAC system and we’ve also been able to replace all the old water lines,” Keller said Friday. “In addition … the school also received funding for a new accessible playground and we’re looking forward to that project and expect that to be finished this year.”
Celebration at @sd68bc’s Cilaire Elementary with seismic upgrade work complete. pic.twitter.com/vtbzwnUhTa
— Karl Yu (@KarlYuBulletin) November 25, 2022
Appearing on behalf of B.C. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside, Sheila Malcolmson, Nanaimo MLA, said her government was pleased to provide funding.
“We want kids to be safe, we want parents, when they send their kids to school in the morning, to have the peace of mind that their children will be safe at school,” she said. “It’s fundamental and that’s why the investment of almost $11 million … was so critical.”
Along with Cilaire, Pleasant Valley Elementary also received money from the same funding stream in 2020, with $8 million directed toward improvements at that facility.
Displaced Cilaire and Pleasant Valley students attended “swing spaces” at the Woodlands and Rutherford school sites respectively, during construction, something Sabo said was very successful.
“To have a site without students on it – and it was a complete worksite – just eliminates a whole host of issues during construction,” he said. “So we would look to this as a solution wherever possible.”
Lisa Frey, Cilaire principal, said the school community is ecstatic about the renovated school.
“I had the pleasure of hosting the first [parent advisory council] and getting to tour parents through the building and the looks and smiles on their faces at seeing the changes and … knowing that their students are coming here and feeling safe, that the building is safe, is obviously big,” she said.
RELATED: B.C. gov’t grants $19M for seismic work at Nanaimo schools
READ ALSO: 4.0 magnitude earthquake measured west of Victoria
karl.yu@nanaimobulletin.com
Like us on Facebook and follow Karl on Twitter and Instagram