The Prince Albert Catholic School Division is returning to a trusted roof engineering firm for a project at Ecole St. Mary High School.
During the board of education’s regular meeting on Nov. 6, roof CFO Greg McEwen told the board administration had recommended Howes Roof Consulting, which previously worked with the division on St. Michael School.
“We do go through an RFP process for the purpose of any parts of our work and we were did land on the same servicer as Saint Michael School who did a great job for us,” education director Lorel Trumier said. “They came in again as low bidder and so we’re going to work with them again.”
In the three year Preventative Maintenance and Renewal (PMR) plan there were two roofing projects to replace sections of the roof of Ecole St. Mary High School. The division’s facilities manager reached out for quotes for engineering services. They deceived two quotes which both recommended going to market as soon as possible to avoid increases in prices.
Administration recommended that Howes Roof Consultants Inc., based in Tisdale, be the engineering and project management server.
Trumier explained that the largest challenge with PMR is that the division had a decrease of nearly $74,000 in PMR in the last budget.
“That makes a significant difference in being able to do these projects,” she said. “There’s real time cost to these projects and we’re just not keeping up with the funding to do that. The construction companies can add two per cent where we can’t find the two per cent that they add for their real time costs or whatever the case might be.”
She said that the projects might decrease in price but they have to make the work happen with less funds.
“It’s always a struggle to make those pieces work and make it count for our school division so that we have the best environment for our students,” Trumier said.
The division expects restoration work at Ecole St. Mary to soon be completed in the New Year. The work began following local flooding in the school basement in June. The music/band room, daycare, and lecture theatre all needed repairs.
“We’re actually getting close to getting possession back of the area that was flooded,” Trumier said.
St. Mary is located in one of the lowest areas in the city in the West Flat and the drainage system could not sustain the water. The carpet, stage and electronics all have to be replaced in the Lecture Theatre.
In the Music Room the division is renting some instruments until replacements arrive. Any performances will be at the EA Rawlinson Centre. Instruments and music sheets were also damaged in the Music Room.
Trumier is positive that the project will remain on schedule with the affected areas ready in 2024.
“We’re always optimistic that we’ll be on schedule and I will say that we really miss our areas in our school,” she said. “They’re high demand and high use areas, so we really miss them and let’s hope we can get them sooner than later.”
Michael.oleksyn@paherald.sk.ca
