The Lambton Kent District School Board (LKDSB) has selected a builder for the long-awaited Blue Coast District School on Townsend Line in Forest.
Wellington Builders’ bid was one of three submitted. The $66 million tender has been approved by the Ministry of Education and comes after nearly a decade of planning.
The school board said with furniture, equipment, consulting fees, permits, and HST included, the total project cost will exceed $74 million.
“It's a K to 12 school, about 145,000 square feet. It will have a daycare as well attached to it, and within the daycare, it's going to have three childcare rooms, two EarlyON rooms, and the school itself will be built for approximately 1,200 students,” said LKDSB Associate Director of Corporate Services Brian McKay.
The new school is expected to help the long-term vitality of the Forest community.
The building will include a running track and bleachers, playground equipment, gym equipment, outdoor basketball courts, a field house, auto shop lifts, and artificial turf for the child care area.
Blue Coast District School will consolidate students from Aberarder Central School, Bosanquet Central Public School, Kinwood Central Public School, and North Lambton Secondary School.
"It'll have an elementary section of the school, it'll have a secondary section of the school, and then a number of facilities, such as the learning commons, the gymnasium, an open cafetorium type of area that will be shared and used between the two," said McKay. "This is through great collaboration with the community, and the community's such a wonderful partner, and so supportive of the build, and the work we've done to design and now build Blue Coast, so it really shows a collaborative perspective to schools."
A groundbreaking ceremony was held in the fall.
Construction is set to begin this summer and is expected to take two years to complete.
