The contractors who will build the new Penhold regional high school were announced in Red Deer on Sept. 25.
In an event attended by the Minister of Education Jeff Johnson and Minister of Infrastructure Wayne Drysdale, the successful bidder was announced as ABC Schools Partnership.
“The start of the school year is always exciting,” Johnson said. The announcement was made in the new Timberlands neighbourhood of Red Deer, which will host one of the 12 schools that are being built as part of this public-private partnership (“3P”) package.
Drysdale noted work at the Penhold site, beside the multiplex, is already underway. All the schools will be ready in less than two years and will be “state of the art, multi-purpose facilities.”
The bid from ABC Schools Partnership was $288 million. Drysdale said using the 3P method saves taxpayers about $43 million compared to using a traditional school build and finishes them earlier.
Mike McGuinty, senior vice-president from HOCHTIEF PPP Solutions North America, was there to represent the companies involved in ABC Schools Partnerships.
“We are very excited to be partnering with the province of Alberta,” he said. The ABC Schools Partnership has recently delivered other schools to the province, he said.
HOCHTIEF and Concert Infrastructure Ltd. are the project leads and financing part of the group. Clark Builders, Stantec Architecture Ltd. and Stantec Consulting Ltd. are the design and build leads. Maintenance will be looked after by Ainsworth Inc.
Johnson said that having the maintenance contract built in to the partnership means at the end of the 30-year warranty, the schools will be in good shape.
Colleen Butler, the chair of Chinook's Edge School Division board of trustees, said students being able to attend high school in the area will help foster a sense of community.
“We're really excited to be getting a high school in Penhold,” she said at the Sept. 25 event. Currently high school students from the Penhold region are bused to River Glen School in Red Deer.
The new Penhold high school is scheduled to open September 2014 and teach students from Grade 7-12. The school will be attached to the multiplex and access the facilities there through a joint-use agreement.
