Educational

St. Cecilia Catholic School is part of a new subdivision community, known as Belterra Estates / Treetops, located on the east side of Alliston, Ontario.

In addition to serving this community, the school will play a key role in relieving over population at three nearby catholic elementary schools. This new school will support students, families, and the community with Catholic Education for grades JK through 8 and have a capacity of 470 students. The school also includes a 49 space Childcare Facility (one Infant Room, one Toddler Room, and one Preschool Room).

The mandate for the new St. Cecilia Catholic School was to provide a school layout based upon programmatic layout and design standards for recent Simcoe Muskoka Catholic District School Board (SMCDSB) new build projects. However, faced with cost escalation challenges in the marketplace, this new design underwent extensive value engineering to reduce costs and come in on budget without sacrificing academic opportunity and construction quality. The re-design incorporates the following principles into the facility:

• Clear plan organization
• Efficient space and circulation planning
• Barrier free design for accessibility throughout
• Chapel space as a primary focal point of the design integrated into the Learning Commons space
• Integrated Childcare Facility
• Low maintenance, quality materials used throughout
• 3 Mechanical HVAC options prepared for Cost Estimate comparison

The main entrance, lobby and gathering area are located near the midpoint of the main corridor intersections. This is the focus of the school. This is where there will be a direct connection to the Chapel, Learning Commons, School Office and Gymnasium. This is envisioned as the heart of the school with the double height entry space creating a clear identity for the building and its users.

Windsor Catholic Central High School is a new 2-storey secondary school with oversized student commons for multi-purpose uses, large double gymnasium and 21^st Century learning spaces throughout designed to encourage collaboration.

This is the first Ontario high school designed to respond to a post-pandemic environment. The efficiency of the design resulted in the gross area of the school being 20% under the Ministry standards without compromising any of the program spaces. The Library area was kept to a minimum to allow a bigger student learning commons to be developed, which will facilitate physical distancing. By starting on site in late 2020, the contractor had 20 months to complete the project.

+VG designed an efficient two-storey narrow linear building to suit the narrow rectangular site. To minimize the cut and full work required on the sloping site, the building was located in the middle of site at the point where the cut and fill balanced out.

The Owner required an economical design. The +VG design solution was to build a load bearing masonry structure with precast second floor system. Roof top mechanical equipment was chosen primarily for low capital cost.

Mechanical units are complete with heat recovery. The tinted windows all contain premium low emissivity film to reduce solar heat gain.

+VG identified several “Extraordinary Cost” Items and the Ministry provided additional funding for them over the funding formula.

+VG Developed an extremely efficient floor plan cutting 10,000 ft² off target area per Ministry standard.

+VG included several separate prices and alternate price items in order to have some flexibility to tailor the tender contract value to match the funding available while maximizing the value for the owner.

This project, for the CEPEO (French School Board) in Ottawa, was successfully completed on schedule. The program involves an eight classroom addition creating an additional 184 pupil-places.

Classroom design was optimized and flexible in case of under utilized rooms. The addition incorporates rhythms of glass ranging in primary colours to add interest to the new classrooms and create a sense of playfulness.

Low maintenance, durable materials reinforce the sustainability of this highly efficient building, while fostering a connection to the natural surroundings. Construction proceeded with minimal impact on the school grounds and the environment.

Changes made to the scope of work were requested by the client to increase program space. +VG responded promptly and provided increased program designs during contract administration, as well as coordination with the General Contractors to ensure this work was implemented.

The design of this new school required a compact footprint to allow for the development of two full-sized play fields which will be shared-use with the City of Waterloo.

The solution was a partial three-storey plan at the street corner with a two-storey section for the kindergartens and gymnasium areas.

The image/style was developed to emphasize the cutting-edge modernity of Waterloo – home of BlackBerry, the Perimeter Institute, University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University, and many high-technology businesses. Major components of the school include:

• Library and Maker Lab
• Full size (double) gym
• Administration offices
• Music classroom
• Science and Technology classroom
• Special Education classrooms
• Seminar Rooms
• Pod style classroom layout
• Structure to support future or planned solar panels
• Structural design to support future additions
• Exterior landscaping