Athabascaís new secondary school officially went to tender last Thursday, with the cost estimated around $28 million and completion targeted for early 2018.
Aspen View Public Schools posted the tender on their website after the division received long-awaited approval from Alberta Infrastructure.
Superintendent Mark Francis said it has been just over two years since the division was awarded the new school, and posting the tender is a ìhuge stepî in the process.
ìIím watching this beautiful weather and the snow melt, and Iím anxious to get a shovel in the ground,î Francis said. He also said they hope to approve the builder by May, and if processes are expedited, they hope to ìput up the fences and start digging holesî in late June or July.
The division approved five potential builders in January. Tenders close on April 22, and the division has to choose the winning bid within 90 days.
The school division released conceptual drawings of the new school last December. At that time, Francis said he wanted the tender out ìby Christmas.î
In early January, school board communications director Ross Hunter said the division was targeting Jan. 15 to put the project to tender.
A complicated roadblock to starting construction is a land trade: the school-owned land where Edwin Parr Composite School sits, for the new site, owned by Athabasca University.
ìAlberta Infrastructure was nervous about posting a $28 million tender when we donít own the land yet,î Francis said, noting that ministry wanted to wait until the land transfer went through. ìThat of course would delay the project to the point where we would miss this building season.î
Francis said the land trade needs final approval from Albertaís cabinet, but a step in the right direction is an approval letter the board received from Education Minister David Eggen.
ìThe final domino to fall is the land transfer,î he said. ìBut again, weíve worked with the ministries involved, and our MLA has been very supportive. Our understanding is that theyíre going to try and expedite this to get this in front of cabinet.î
The school board decided to replace the 68-year-old Edwin Parr Composite building in 2012, when the provincial government pledged to replace 50 schools in the province.
In early 2014, then-infrastructure minister Ric McIver announced the approval of the replacement.
