Ground has yet to break on a "fast-tracked" expansion at an overcrowded Burnaby elementary school originally scheduled to be complete this past September.
Former B.C. Education Minister Rachna Singh was at Kitchener Elementary School in December 2023 to announce the school had been approved for a $22.5-million, 15-classroom prefabricated addition that would add 375 seats at the school.
The province said the new classrooms were expected to be ready as early as the 2024-25 school year.
In July, the province announced it was kicking in an extra $7.5 million for a 20-classroom expansion, and school district secretary treasurer Ishver Khunguray said the project was then expected to be complete in late 2025, early 2026.
As of this week, however, the school district has yet to secure a building permit for the job.
It turns out the extra five classrooms are behind the delay, according to the school district.
"Once the design work got underway, it quickly became more complex than a traditional prefabricated addition," Khunguray told the Burnaby NOW. "This addition needs to connect two existing school buildings. To do that, the design moved from a simple prefabricated addition to a hybrid including conventional construction."
Khunguray said the building permit application to the City of Burnaby will be in by the end of February; construction is expected to start in the summer; and students should be able to move in in the fall of 2026.
The extra space is desperately needed at Kitchener, which the school district projects will be at 207 per cent capacity by 2031 unless more spaces are added.
"We certainly recognize the need that Kitchener Elementary has right now for more space," Khunguray said.
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