Due to soaring prices for materials like steel, the rebuild at South Okanagan Secondary is now $2 million over budget and that means certain upgrades might not happen at the school.
“We’re about 10% over budget, which is not unmanageable,” said Mitch Van Allen, Director of Operations at School District 53. “So we’ve approached the general contractor and subcontractors for cost reductions and they’ve come back with all sorts of suggestions.”
The district says it won’t change the design of the school. It will instead cut costs by omitting certain upgrades: decorative pillars inside the school won’t be built and there’ll be cheaper products in classrooms and fewer trees on school property.
School board trustees are confident these shortfalls can be taken care of without any noticeable changes.
“It’s going to be a fantastic building, it’s going provide an opportunity for our students to work at facility, an environment that’s good for them,” said Sam Hancheroff, School Trustee Vice-Chair. “I don’t see there being other problems to be honest with you.”
South Okanagan Secondary was only weeks away from completion when a fire destroyed the school last year.
A piece of South Okanagan history, the Frank Venables auditorium, also went down in the fire.
The rebuild is supposed to cost roughly $23 million. Since the province does not insure its buildings, taxpayers will be footing the bill.
The district says it’s already found more than $1 million in savings; the rest will come from a provincial contingency fund.
“I think in some cases, the B.C. public will be happy that we’re not spending $2.2 million on frivolous things,” said Van Allen. “We’ve gone through the exercises and we’ve stayed within budget and I think a lot of people are going to be happy because it is taxpayers’ money that we are spending.”
Construction is expected to be completed by next September.
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