Prairie Spirit School Division manages 46 public schools in 28 communities surrounding the City of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Its mission is to promote learning without limits, and to provide engaging and creative learning spaces for students and staff. Faced with aging infrastructure at two schools in the town of Rosthern, the school division, working in cooperation with the Ministry of Education, initiated the construction of a new consolidated facility to serve the entire pre-kindergarten through to Grade 12 (Pre-K-12) student population.
The new 66,553 sq. ft. school includes 16 classrooms, a computer lab, two gyms, a library, and other shared learning and administrative spaces. In addition, a new 2,500 sq. ft.daycare operates as a self-contained space within the school, accommodating 30-infant to -preschool age children.
Prairie Spirit School Division brought in Colliers Project Leaders during the early planning stages to provide project management and bid document review services.
During the project’s planning stages, construction tenders came back over budget. Anticipating this possibility, our team had included wording in the bid documents that enabled negotiations with the lowest bidder to avoid the need to re-tender. The approach allowed our team to realign the project with the school division’s budget and to ensure that the project proceeded according to the original schedule.
An understanding of project fast-tracking also helped keep the school construction on schedule. Poor sub-surface conditions, for example, prevented the contractor from installing the new foundation as originally planned. Extreme winter temperatures also interfered, forcing a temporary halt in construction.
In addition, the COVID-19 pandemic nearly brought the project to a standstill in its final phases. Our team worked with the school division, the design team and the contractor to evaluate the risks and identify solutions to keep the project on schedule. Fast-tracking of materials, furniture and equipment orders, alongside the introduction of new onsite safety procedures, allowed construction to proceed.
In the end, Prairie Spirit School Division was able to welcome its students to the new Rosthern Pre-K-12 Public School in September 2020 as planned. We were pleased to celebrate the unveiling of this impressive new facility with the entire project team, as well as school staff, students and the Rosthern community.
