b'PROJECT PROFILEPhoto by Michael Hintringer PhotographyGRADING ON A CURVE BY JAMES PETERSVERNONS BX ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EXPANSION NEARLY COMPLETEt the end of July 2021, about thethis growth. With construction nowEducation contributed another $425,000. A only thing left to finish on thecomplete, all of the portables have beenMany of the students were already spending BX Elementary School expansionremoved from site. The new classroomsfull days in portables, and enrolment is in Vernon, B.C. was some final grading andare a true extension of the originalonly expected to increase in the coming additional landscaping. The constructionbuilding, and all were built to theyears, according to a B.C. Government project, which got underway in May 2020,maximum allowable square footage press release. Without the addition, the will be completed ahead of time and onroughly the same size as the province said the school would have had to budget, according to Project Managerexisting classrooms.double its number of portables in the next Archie Stogianos. 10 years. We maximized the window size in the Ive been in construction for most of mynew rooms and kept the design andB.C.s Minister of Education, Rob Fleming, adult life and I cant remember a projectconstruction simple and functional withwas recently quoted saying, I cant wait going this smoothly, says Stogianos, whomodern lighting and Direct Digitalto see every student at BX learning in is also the Director of Facilities for VernonControls (DDCs), says Stogianos. Allclassrooms that keep them fully connected School District No. 22. I think there wereaspects of the expansion were constructedto the great school community they have in many reasons for that happy scenario,with wood framing due the buildingVernon. Echoing that statement, Robert including the cooperation between thebeing a simple single storey with six-footLee, Board Chair of the Vernon School general contractor, Sawchuk Developmentscrawl space. District, said, Vernon is a great place to of Kelowna, and our local architecturallive, and School District 22 is a great place company, MQN from Vernon. But In addition, the expansion incorporatedto learn. These classrooms will allow all another important factor was the schoollarger hallways, better traffic flows,students and staff to be in one building and teachers, the administrators and theclean sight lines to improve hallwaywill enhance the inclusive and collaborative students, who all deserve a round ofsupervision, and all of the new roomslearning environment at BX Elementary.applauseeveryone really handled thehave large windows to allow as much disruption professionally.natural light in as possible. The schoolsIn January of 2021, the school was existing classrooms will be renovatedfully occupied and operational. We The nearly $12-million expansion hasto match the designs in the newhad to relocate two of the portables for added an additional 240 seats to the schoolconstruction. On the energy efficiencyconstruction, but the school was at full through 12 extra classroomsnearlyfront, new air-source heat pumps for thecapacity throughout, says Stogianos. Yes, doubling the size of the original. Ten of theHVAC system were also incorporated,its truly unfortunate that we started during classrooms will be used as soon as the kidsmaking for a much smaller carbonCOVID, but that fact didnt really affect return in September, and two will remainfootprint. Rounding things off were thethe [construction of the] school.available for future growth. The studentaddition of low-maintenance interior and population has been steadily increasing forexterior finishes. Planning for the expansion had started well years at BX Elementary, which ultimatelybefore the pandemic, but Stogianos says saw five portable classrooms added toThe province provided $11.1 million forthe impact of COVID-19 was manageable. the school grounds to accommodatethe expansion and the Vernon Board ofTeachers and students were following all of 46 SOUTHERN INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION ASSOCIATION'