Colliers Project Management will act as the project manager for the construction of the proposed joint-use school in Moose Jaw after submitting the winning bid.
The school is expected to be built in the Westheath area, on the west end of South Hill. The new building will be constructed to house about 1,000 students, bringing together children from the Prairie South School Division (PSSD) and Holy Trinity Catholic School Division under one roof.
PSSD issued the request for proposals in the fall for a project manager for the joint-use building. The bid was awarded to Colliers between Oct. 30 and Nov. 26 for $599,000, according to a report presented during the PSSD board meeting in December.
Jan Radwanski, a trustee for the City of Moose Jaw, was concerned about the issuance of the tender since he had spoken with city councillors and municipal officials about the project, who told him there are challenges in finding a particular spot on South Hill for the joint-use school. Specifically, there are issues with planning and the suitability of the location.
He wondered if the tender allowed for variation of a new school during construction or if the tender would be paid out even if the school wasn’t constructed.
“I have no concerns that that joint-use school won’t happen. I’m 100-per-cent confident that five years from now, we’ll have a joint-use, public-Catholic pre-K to (Grade) 8 elementary school on South Hill,” said education director Tony Baldwin. “The $599,000 pays for project management for that process from (now) until sometime in 2024 when Colliers will be finished with the sign-off process for any deficiencies in the new building.
“In the event that something went off the rails … one of their jobs is to keep things on the rails and I have lots of confidence in their ability to do that work.”
A total of $2 million has been provided to the school divisions to help with the early process of preparing for the construction of the new school, Baldwin explained. PSSD received $1.25 million while Holy Trinity will write the division a cheque for $750,000 for the rest of that preparation process. PSSD will then manage the accounting for the construction of the school until its completion.
This means when a company is hired, such as Colliers, PSSD will make one payment on behalf of both school divisions instead of each paying an 80/20 percentage split. Baldwin added that all the expenses have been sanctioned by project partners PSSD, Holy Trinity, and the Ministry of Education.
“We’ll show that in our audited financial statements. I’m not entirely sure if Holy Trinity will show that in theirs. My hunch is they won’t because the money will be passing through Prairie South,” he added.
There is a joint steering committee composed of members from both school divisions’ administrations. Baldwin is representing PSSD, Sean Chase (education director) is representing Holy Trinity, Clint Repski is representing the Ministry of Education, and Kyle Toffan is representing SaskBuilds.
There is also a working committee that issued the tender for the project management and is working to issue a tender for the prime consultant role. Various members from both school divisions and the ministry are also in that group.
The next PSSD board meeting is Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2020.
