The latest update to the Greater Victoria School Board on the $79.7-million Victoria High School seismic and expansion project includes a rendering of how the revamped facility will look from Fernwood Road, with a neighbourhood learning centre on its north side.
All of the glasswork has just been finished on the front of the centre, built adjacent to the existing Fairey Technical addition at the school, which houses programs like mechanics and carpentry. The addition was completed in 2011, after the former Fairey Technical building at the school was closed following several decades of service.
The approximately 11,800-square-foot neighbourhood centre will be open to the community to use for cultural, recreational and other services, and will include child care in a separate studio. The province announced in 2019 that it would provide close to $6 million in funding for the centre.
The Greater Victoria School District said in November that the renovated Vic High will not be ready to open until January 2024, about four months later than planned, citing labour shortages, difficulties in getting some construction materials and unexpected conditions due to the age of the school.
Those conditions have led to steps such as installing temporary supports during construction.
“It’s still ongoing with finding the right number of trades and getting people,” said Mora Cunningham, the district’s manager of capital projects. “It’s more the skilled trades that we’re having problems with, just finding enough folks.”
In the meantime, Vic High students are attending classes in the former S.J. Willis Education Centre, which was upgraded to accommodate students from schools in the district that are being renovated. The building was a junior high school until 1983.
Vic High principal Aaron Parker said he is confident students will be able to move from the S.J. Willis site to the revamped Vic High as scheduled in January, ending three and a half years away from Fernwood.
The 2023 graduating class now at S.J. Willis is the last group of current Vic High students to have been at the old facility, he said.
Vic High is the oldest high school west of Winnipeg and north of San Francisco, and got its start in 1876 as a log building on land now occupied by Central Middle School.
The original Fernwood building dates back to 1913.
The renovation project includes preservation of the facade, along with wooden panels and stained glass in the auditorium.
The school’s capacity will increase to 1,000 students from 800.
Monthly reports on the construction have been going to the Central Middle School and Vic High parent-advisory councils, and to the Fernwood Neighbourhood Resource Group.
Cunningham said the project draws a lot of interest from Fernwood residents.
“There’s people coming and asking questions,” she said. “I think the community’s really excited. I think they’re excited that we’re keeping the old school. They can’t wait for it to be done.”
Features such as an artificial-turf field and outdoor volleyball courts will be well-used, Cunningham said.
>>> To comment on this article, write a letter to the editor: [email protected]
