(File photo/AODBT Architecture Interior Design, Facebook)

By Ben Tompkins

New School

Carrot River hires contractor for new school

Jun 23, 2022 | 4:04 PM

The new school coming to Carrot River has checked off another box and is getting closer to the build being started.

The North East School Division (NESD) has hired Wright Construction as their official contractor.

While the project has yet to release an official timeline for the building to be completed, NESD Director of Education Stacy Lair said this is still an important milestone in getting closer to the end.

“We’ve been diligently working away and have just finished securing a contractor for the build, so our project is proceeding down a really good path.”

With designs being finished for the project, multiple months ago, Lair said it’s good to have hired a company that can hopefully bring those designs to life soon.

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“We hope to have some shovels in the ground shortly and have some announcements in our timeline and get going. We appreciate all the ways Wright Construction has worked with us and the architect. It’s been a really collaborative process.”

With rising costs of materials and increased supply delays, it’s been a bit more difficult to move quickly with the project, which may slightly alter the original timeline.

“Originally, our timeline was to have students in, not this coming year, obviously, but the following school year. We do know that we want to make sure that we get in there as soon as possible. We also know that we have some facilities that are aging and so there’s a little bit of a priority to make sure that we can still go ahead so that we can and to create this opportunity for the students.”

Despite some of the issues they face, however, Lair was quick to mention the support from the province.

“They have been very committed and have worked with us through some added inflation costs and so we’ve been very happy with the collaborative approach to work through those pieces that have definitely stretched the budget. The cabinet has approved some additional funding attached to that and our facilities team has been very diligent in making sure that we’re as efficient as we can possibly be in everything that we build, but still maintain all the programming that we need to.”

And regardless of how quick or slow the build progresses, Lair knows the support and excitement from everyone else is worth it.

“We appreciate the dedication of our team and the support from our board to make sure that this school is what we need it to be for many decades in the future, even though we have to be very cost-effective right now. We’re very excited for the community and Carrot River and I think and hope that there’s some excitement in the air, around the community. I know once they get to see some of the new construction and the building going up, that’ll just add to it.”

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Ben.Tompkins@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter @BenTompkins_8