NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

2008EDU0064-000812

May 23, 2008


Ministry of Education



$14.8 MILLION IN SEISMIC UPGRADES MAKE BC SCHOOLS SAFER



VICTORIA – Ten more schools in British Columbia have been approved for seismic upgrades and retrofitting totalling $14.8 million, Minister of Education Shirley Bond announced today.



“We are the first government in B.C. to take such a comprehensive approach to seismically upgrade B.C. schools,” said Bond. “We are making a $1.5-billion, 15-year major investment in seismic upgrades.”



Typical work undertaken in a seismic upgrade includes the creation of shear walls and improving connections between floors, walls and roof. All 10 projects will be underway this summer:



    * Colebrook Elementary School, Surrey, $1.4 million.
    * Pinewood Elementary, Delta, $1.2 million.
    * Pauline Haarer Elementary, Nanaimo, $945,000.
    * Belmont Elementary, Langley, $3.75 million.
    * Garden City Elementary, Richmond, $3.9 million.
    * Captain Meares Elementary-Secondary, Tahsis, $695,000.
    * Sir Wilfrid Laurier Elementary, Vancouver, $130,626.
    * Simon Fraser Elementary, Vancouver, $429,868.
    * John Norquay Elementary, Vancouver, $1,084,232.
    * Ideal Mini School, Vancouver, $1,300,047.



“These improvements will strengthen the structure of these schools,” said Bond. “We are working hard, in cooperation with districts, to move all high priority projects to construction as quickly as possible, so B.C. students continue to have safe facilities in which to learn and achieve their best.”



“Keeping students and staff safe in all of our schools is of primary importance to British Columbia’s boards of education.  We are pleased to see that the Province is taking a fast track approach to seismic upgrades to British Columbia’s schools” says Connie Denesiuk, president of the BC School Trustees Association.





Since 2001, the Province has spent more than $1.3 billion to complete 26 new schools, 41 replacements, 147 additions and 25 renovation projects across British Columbia. By the end of 2008/09, the Province will have invested more than $3.1 billion in school capital and maintenance projects across the province.

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250 356-5963