By james art 
An upcoming $ 900,000 renovation project marks light at the end of the tunnel and in the classrooms of the Arrow Heights Primary School (AHE).
Ahe is one of the two buildings of the 19th school district in Revelstoke, which has retained its structure since the 70s. Half of the school’s classrooms are left without recent repairs and outdated, with limited improvements composed by 2024.
In these training circles, “the resources they use now are quite different than until 1970 or 1980,” said SD19 secretary Bruce Tisdale.
The last repair planned for the school seems to leave the last of the dating décor of Ahe and fulfilled the three -year promises.
He will see the other half a dozen older classrooms in the back of the building, upgraded, with more versatile study spaces, windows, LED lighting and better doors and insulation.
Earlier this month, the SD19 selected the TKI Construction of Kelowna from five project offers, providing the company with about $ 898,500 and two additional contributions for a total of about $ 92,450.
“We were nervous because the area had no money to finance any of these costs,” Tisdale said, adding that this project of nearly $ 900,000 remained within the approved budget. “There would have been a conversation if he had passed for the budget or if there was only one auction.”
Added contributions will rethink school doors to open in their classrooms instead of the other way to improve safety and reduce clump. They will also cover the transformation of the front doors to create better insulation, although Tisdale notes that it was part of the plan from the beginning.
The broader covered by nearly $ 900,000 are Skylight installations for interior classrooms that have passed decades without seeing daylight – a promise from three years ago that SD19 maintains its word.
The project will also receive the SD19 to its target from 100 % LED lighting in the four schools.
This repair comes as the last impetus to a series of modernization repairs to millions of dollars in Ahe. This is a huge victory, according to Tisdale, over the investment between $ 20 and $ 30 million for a brand new elementary school from the beginning.
While the BCC Ministry of Education sees high competition for fixed -capital projects, such as school renovation, Tisdale explained, the SD19 has been successful in recent years, providing a total of $ 4 million for various projects that have taken AHE for half a century.
“Apart from the fact that it is a brick, it almost looks like a brand new school,” he said. In addition to the classrooms in the back of Ahe, “everything else is fashionable and this is great for children.”
Describing the aesthetics of the next school repair, Tisdale said: “Revelstoke is obviously very influenced by trees, mountains, snow, and this will be reflected in the outline.”
The TKI Construction selected is expected to come for a few weeks.