The team behind construction of the New Westminster Secondary School replacement is doing its best to make up time as B.C. slowly emerges from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Trustees heard an update on the construction project at the school board’s June 9 operations committee meeting, held remotely via Webex.
“The big message again is that, although the COVID-19 pandemic has had significant implications to the project, the project has not stopped. The construction has not stopped,” project officer Grant Lachmuth told the committee.
Lachmuth told trustees that, as was the case when he reported on the project in May, the construction work has been slowed down by two main COVID-19-related issues: workforce numbers and supply chain delays.
He said workforce numbers were at a high of 250 or more before mid-March but dropped to a low of about 125 after that. Now, he said, numbers are building back up again, with about 140 to 170 workers per day on the site, and that’s increasing as the days go by.
Supply chain issues are also improving, he said.
The pandemic took a toll on the project from mid-March to the latter part of May, Lachmuth said, because a number of suppliers had ceased manufacturing the necessary materials – some had shifted to manufacturing N95 masks and other personal protective equipment for health-care workers instead.
“There was a time of uncertainty in April whether or not they would switch back,” he said. “We know now that they have reverted back to manufacturing their original materials. All of the information we have from our contractor right now is we believe that the majority, if not all, of the material supply chains are back on track and have restarted.”
Now, he said, the project team is working to evaluate exactly what delays there may be in the production, shipping and installation of those materials.
Lachmuth’s report to trustees notes that regular work hours have been Monday to Friday from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. He said the project team is working with the contractor, Graham Construction, on a daily basis to try to establish a revised schedule for construction and to make up time wherever possible.
“The contractor is making all efforts, including increasing their work days to working some Saturdays, to try to pick up schedule,” he said.
Lachmuth confirmed the school won’t be ready, as originally planned, for this fall, but the team is still working on a revised timeline. Once that’s ready, he said, it will return to the board so trustees and the community will know what to expect.
SIDEBAR: WHAT’S BEEN DONE
Here are some highlights of the current work on the new NWSS:
May achievements:
- Completion of paving and sidewalks between Moody Park Arena and Massey Theatre
- On-site curbs and paving
- Arrival of kitchen equipment
- Completion of maintenance/IT building wood framing and roofing
- Installation of lockers
- Installation of built-in cabinetry
- Painting of the exposed structure in the gym
June planned activities:
- Arrival of retractable 500-seat bleachers for gym
- Landscaping and street furniture
- Gym and north-side cladding
- Start-up of air conditioning equipment for communications/IT rooms
- Lighting roughed in for 280-seat theatre
- Start of flooring
- Telus lines run from Eighth Avenue to school
- Concrete form work for grand commons staircase
- Painting in the learning commons
(Above are some highlights from the construction report presented to trustees June 9. For the full list, see the June 9 agenda package online.)
