St. Patrick’s Community School: A little new, a lot improved

BY CINDY CHAN

Staff and students are pretty lucky to be attending the newly renovated St. Patrick’s Community School. Located in Red Deer, the school underwent a modernization and addition to better serve the pupils and teachers it houses. The modernization approved and funded by the Alberta government included some demolition of the existing modular classrooms. Ken Jaeger, owner of KTJ Consulting and now retired supervisor of support services for Red Deer Catholic Regional Schools, says the modernization and addition accommodated the growing population of students and addressed aging infrastructure within the facility. “The school was built in 1982, and no major work had been done so the systems were reaching their end-of-life expectancy. The school operates on a year-round calendar and had been sitting at 130 per cent utilization, so it was full,” Jaeger says of the K-9 school. The project took part in three phases; Phase 1 consisted of the new build, while Phases 2 and 3 involved the demolition and renovation, according to the Chandos team of Louie Ayres, construction manager/ superintendent; Jason Towers, vice-president and district manager; and Ben Steenbergen, project manager. Craig Webber, principal at Group2 Architecture Interior Design Ltd., says the school also replaced its mechanical electrical systems and upgraded its building envelope. Construction began in July 2018 and wrapped up in December 2019. The school was fully occupied during all three phases of construction, according to Jaeger. The first month of construction consisted of full-on demolition of the some of the areas being removed, according to Steenbergen. Throughout August and September, they graded the site and rubbed the area to accommodate the new foundations. At the end of August, they erected steel and structure for the new build. “We did intensive demolition throughout the school, cut out the wall of the mechanical room and removed the mechanical units to replace them with new ones,” Ayres says. “We also demolished and replaced the main washrooms in the St. Patrick’s hall, as well as adding two barrier-free washrooms.” The new classrooms were built for a 21st-century learning environment, some of which

“The school operates on a year-round calendar and had been sitting at 130 per cent utilization, so it was full,” Jaeger says of the K-9 school.

included collaborative learning spaces with overhead garage doors that open up into them. As part of the school’s agreement with the Alberta government, St. Patrick’s Community School also boasts solar panels on the roof of the building as well as a polemounted solar tracker in the field that tracks the sun. Students can also track solar production and electricity consumption via the monitor in the main foyer of the gathering space. The biggest change was the amount of space within that school. “It started off having a capacity of 130 per cent, with kids sitting in hallways and storage rooms,” Steenbergen says. “They were in desperate need for more usable space. Those poor teachers and students had been cramped for so long!” A unique aspect of this project – and school – was that it is a combined facility, says Towers. There are three different owners in one single facility that spans about four blocks. The school, located on the west side, is attached to the Red Deer Public Library – Dawe Branch and G.H. Dawe Community Centre in the middle and G.H. Dawe School on the east side. “With all of that comes a very busy site in general,” Towers recalls. “That just speaks to how well the team did in this process.” Speaking of teamwork, the project was carried out via IPD (integrated project delivery), which was highly regarded among the project team. Towers says a standard contract tends to pit owner versus contractor, but the IPD method contractually brings everyone in and on the same team. Jaeger says IPD is a new delivery model in Canada in which all team members are brought on early to develop and discuss their goals and how to deliver the project. In addition to Group2 and Chandos, this project included the following designers and subcontractors: WSP Engineering, Hawk Custom Sheet Metal, D.A. Fox Engineering, RJC Engineers, AltaPro Electric, World Class Contracting and Aztec Construction. Jeff Rabinovitch, principal structural engineer at RJC Engineers, recalls that the team continuously challenged key design decisions to ensure they aligned with the project values. “The focus was ensuring that the team delivered the highest quality learning environment.” “We were able to deliver this project a month ahead of schedule and $3 million under budget,” Jaeger remarks. “That’s due to the success of the IPD methodology, having all team members working together and overcoming issues that arise.” During construction, Ayres, Steenbergen, and Towers also offered site tours to the students to show them what was going on during construction. They even had a learning day with them to teach them about the trades, such as electrical, sheet metal and so on. They even built a trophy called the St. Patrick’s Cup. “We barbecued on site and invited faculty over to eat burgers and chat about what was going on,” Ayres says. “There was a lot of community involvement, and it was a nice experience with the teachers and students.” n

Helping develop the right solution for your project.

▪ Structural Engineering ▪ Building Science ▪ Structural Restoration ▪ Structural Glass

Engineering ▪ Parking Facility Design ▪ Building Energy Modelling ▪ Audits & Studies ▪ Civil Engineering

St. Patrick’s Community School IPD Modernization