This project is currently out for tender, as an example of a retrofit, project of an existing building.
Formerly the building was a 60 year old Vocational High School that we are transforming into a new JK to 8, French Immersion Elementary School. The project includes the complete renewal of the site, complete exterior façade and all interiors to yield an essentially ‘new’ school. The net result is a building that is unrecognizable from its former self. Everything must be changed to suit its new use. The site now has to accommodate a minimum of 25 buses, and provide a complete separation of cars and buses on the site.
Once containing large vocational shops, the new use must be designed in conformance with the Ministry’s classroom size and functionality, so most of the interiors had to be dramatically changed. The greatest challenge however, is that the school was constructed on a sloping site, with interior floor elevations that vary 12 feet vertically from one side of the school to the other. Originally, this was accessed through several stairways, but now had to meet contemporary accessibility guidelines.
