Out with the old, in with the new

BY CINDY CHAN

Heritage Hills Elementary School has replaced the pre-existing Wye Elementary School, which has been around for 60 years. Wye Elementary School was previously located just east of Sherwood Park, a bedroom community east of Edmonton, Alberta. Heritage Hills Elementary School, a brand new K-6 school with a capacity for 650 students approved and funded by the Government of Alberta, is replacing it. But it is now located in the Heritage Hills neighbourhood of Sherwood Park. Construction began in November 2018 and was completed in May 2020. According to Robert Derech, assistant director of projects and planning for Elk Island Public Schools, the school was occupied in September 2020. Aaron Corser, project executive for Clark Builders, who was the general contractor on the project, says the demolition of the old Wye Elementary School was managed by Elk Island Public Schools because it had been located on a different site. Clark Builders’ scope of work included a greenfield site for which

Photos courtesy of Plaid Interactive

the site preparation work began late in the fall, and they were fortunate to complete the building pad preparation prior to winter conditions. “We constructed the building through the end of 2018 and the following year,” Corser recalls. “2019 was apparently the wettest Alberta summer in 40 years, so that, coupled with a pandemic, challenged our schedule a little bit. We finished up the work during the winter of 2019-2020, and finished the final exterior work and landscaping in spring 2020.” Corser says Clark Builders just wrapped up its year-end warranty inspections in May of this year. Heritage Hills Elementary School is a two-story, 5,475-square-metre building, according to Derech. The school has been built with a brick veneer, metal cladding, high-pressure laminate cladding and concrete panels. A total of 202 solar panels adorn the school, with 102 on the gym roof and the remaining 100 on the east, west and south elevations of the building. “We have a solar monitoring system so we know how much energy is being generated and how much is being used by the school,” Derech explains. Heritage Hills Elementary School also features a centrally located learning commons and gymnasium that feature a lot of glass, says Trent Franson, associate at START Architecture. “It’s got large windows, providing a lot of natural light, and an open ceiling,” Franson says, adding the school boasts 26 classrooms/ancillary spaces. “There are breakout spaces for flexibility, and large gathering space with views to the learning commons and gymnasium.” “It’s a beautiful school, built to 21stcentury learning standards,” Corser says. “There is a lot of colour in the floor and walls, which is nice for the younger kids.” Corser says the school ended up being a dualstream facility, offering French immersion to its students. Other interesting features of the school include a floating concrete staircase and a learning space/deck on the roof. Corser says that although the project was completed through a lump-sum contractual method, the construction process was executed in a collaborative format. “I think the project had its fair share of adversities, as all projects do, but the manner in which they were worked out and the relationships built between the designers, client and the builders resulted in a winwin-win outcome,” he says. n