Work is expected to begin this spring on a pre-fabricated modular addition to a Nanaimo high school.
Last year, Nanaimo Ladysmith Public Schools announced a six-classroom expansion at Wellington Secondary School that would accommodate 150 learning spaces. At the school district's strategic directions committee meeting Wednesday, Jan. 15, staff provided an update, stating work on the high school is expected to start May 1.
The Wellington addition, proposed for an area between the main building and band facility, is estimated to carry a price tag of $7.3 million. On Point Project Engineers Ltd. is the successful company that will handle work at the high school, the school district told the News Bulletin.
At the meeting, Mark Walsh, secretary-treasurer, said the work at Wellington is part of a "two-part infrastructure shift."
"We would build the modulars and then, at a later time, we would change the structure of some regular classroom instruction, in the school itself, to ensure that there's sufficient specialty space," he said. "By adding six general instruction classrooms and still having a couple of portables on site, we are impacting their ability to provide some specialty areas."
It his hoped that instruction will be able to start at Wellington's new classrooms next January.
Chase River Elementary is getting five new classrooms, adding 125 spaces. Work at the south-end school is expected to start Aug. 15, according to a staff report, and the addition is proposed for an area in the southwest of the school property, with a projected cost of $7.5 million. Chase River pupils are expected to occupy the classrooms by the start of the 2026-27 school year.
When asked by Greg Keller, school board vice-chairperson, about transportation-related infrastructure, Walsh said the district is planning on addressing parking at Chase River, but not necessarily at Wellington.
"In the Wellington case, we've actually had a discussion … we're really just building it to be the size of the number of kids that are already at that school, but we actually are deciding to try to not add [parking] if we can avoid it just on the environmental basis," said Walsh. "There's enough staff parking, we're not concerned about that. We're not looking at adding additional student parking, as an example."
Money for the projects comes from the B.C. Ministry of Education and Child Care's expansion program.