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 Facilities and Building
Home • MidYearRpt05-06 • Facilities and Building
 
FOUNDATIONS - Facilities and Building

Custodial Services
The Custodial Services Department is responsible for the cleaning of district facilities.  The mandate of the department is to provide a clean and comfortable environment to enhance the learning experiences of students, teachers, and all other building users.

Custodial staff is assigned presently to clean 2.9 million square feet of district-owned and leased facilities in addition to opening and checking facilities without day custodians.

Distribution Services
Distribution Services is composed of an internal school district mail service, and a furniture delivery service.  Internal mail is delivered to all schools and service facilities twice each week.  The furniture truck deals primarily with larger items which must be moved from one facility to another.  These items include stages, choral risers, band instruments, desks, chairs, and a large variety of other materials.  Requests to move these goods are made through the District Work Order Management System.

Energy and Natural Resource Conservation
Energy and Natural Resource Conservation continues to be a major focus of the district.  The last year saw the completion of a second major Energy Conservation Initiative,.  The project replaced lighting systems at 40 of our buildings reducing electrical consumption by 1,800,000 kWhrs annually while providing significant improvement in lighting quality in classrooms.  

A water conservation initiative providing for installation of demand management controls on all flush-tank urinals in the district was also completed.   The district, in partnership with the City, is currently underway with the installation of water meters to all sites so that the financial savings from reduced water consumption can be realized.  The combined savings from these two projects are estimated to be in the range of $300,000 annually.

Over the last year, natural gas prices climbed to record levels as a result of increasing demand, slow supply growth, and the influence of devastating Gulf Coast hurricanes.  The district's energy management initiatives are providing a significant insulating effect from this price volatility.

Rob Collison, appointed as the district's Manager of Natural Resources in September, 2005, leads a dedicated team of Maintenance Department personnel with a mission to continue to improve the district's performance in this area.

Facility Rentals
The Richmond School District makes its facilities available for use by groups, organizations, and individuals within the community throughout the school year in accordance with established guidelines.  It is the policy of the Board to encourage community use of school facilities, providing such does not conflict with the regular or extracurricular program of the school, or the Continuing Education program offered through the school district.

Most facilities are available for rental and include classrooms, multipurpose rooms, lounges, foyers and gymnasia.  In general, the facilities are available for community use after 5:00 p.m.  Facilities are also available weekends; however, an additional custodial charge is added in order to provide opening and closing, security and custodial services. Weekend rental is subject to a four-hour minimum.

Private rental groups include users such as heritage schools, churches, recreational sports teams, strata councils, production companies, and special interest clubs to name a few.  The Board charges these groups a fee for using facilities which can be either the commercial or non-commercial rate depending on the group’s purpose.

Rental space for private users is available after other users exercise their booking prerogatives. School use, Continuing Education classes, and City of Richmond sponsored groups all take precedence for space over private renters.  Heritage language schools account for a considerable portion of private rental income.  The next largest contributors are religious organizations.  Both user groups are charged the non-commercial rental rates, as both are deemed to be ‘non-profit.’ Other groups charged the commercial rate include production companies, mainly from the United States in past years, and most recently from the Lower Mainland.

MacNeill Secondary School
In September of 2003, A. R. MacNeill Secondary School opened its doors to Grade 7 and Grade 8 students, expanding to Grade 9 in September of 2004 and to Grade 10 in September of 2005.  The balance of the additional property required to complete the school site has been acquired, and development of the additional playing fields and parking areas is now underway.  Agreement on funding the development has been reached by Board and Ministry staff, and a Capital Project Agreement has been prepared for signing by the Minister and Board Chair.  The development will include a new soccer field, a rugby field, extension of the existing field westward to the Anderson Elementary School site, new parking areas adjacent to No. 4 Road, and extensive landscaping and pathway construction.  Construction is expected to be completed this year.

Maintenance Services
Maintenance services are provided by the Maintenance Department.  The department is responsible for the efficient and safe operation of district facilities and grounds.

Services provided by the Maintenance Department include preventative maintenance of building systems, repairs of structural and mechanical components, landscaping upkeep, and other maintenance work.   Since January of 2005, there have been 14,009 work orders submitted with 11,787 being completed.  Annual Facilities Grant funding of $3.1 million is being spent on roof replacement, exterior painting, mechanical upgrades, facility upgrades, and loss prevention projects for the 2005/06 school year.

Non-Structural Seismic Mitigation Program
The Ministry of Education has continued the non-structural seismic mitigation program for the 2005/06 school year.  Examples of the work already completed in the secondary schools include securing equipment in the technology workshops and securing millwork and larger items of equipment and furnishings in the corridors and classrooms.  The exit corridors in the elementary schools were previously upgraded and, hence, the current funding will be used to restrain lower risk elements in the elementary classrooms and the general instruction secondary classrooms.

Portables
At its peak, the Board had 247 portables located on its school sites.   With the extensive capital construction program over the past several years, this number has been reduced to 79, with 29 portables at elementary schools and 50 at secondary schools.   Of the 50 portables on secondary school sites, 15 portables are located at Cambie Secondary School and will be removed as MacNeill becomes fully utilized.   There are currently 17 portables on the Steveston/London site and these will be removed with the replacement of Steveston Secondary School.

Richmond Secondary School
The new Richmond Secondary School building opened its doors on January 5, 2004.   The parking and landscaped areas were completed in conjunction with the installation of the artificial turf field in September of 2005.  The artificial turf field is a joint project with the City of Richmond.  The artificial turf field allows intensive use year-round during all weather conditions and will be of great benefit to the school’s athletics and health and lifestyle programs.

Sidaway Closure Process
As a result of the Sidaway Closure Report, and after extensive consultations with stakeholder groups, the Board directed staff to close Sidaway School on June 30, 2005.

Steveston/London Project
A Capital Project Agreement, signed by the Minister and the Board Chair, was entered into on March 31, 2005, to provide funding for the replacement of Steveston Secondary School by means of an addition to London Secondary School.   The Board approved additional funding to allow the design to include amenities appropriate for the combined school facility.   Design development was concluded in the Spring of 2005, under the guidance of a Steering Committee, and construction documents were completed in late 2005.  A Construction Manager was appointed in August of 2005 to assist in the completion of the construction documents, review costs, and manage the tendering of the work.

Tenders are closing the week of January 16, 2006.  Following a tender review process, and subject to budget limitations, it is expected that construction will start early in February, 2006.  The combined school facility will open, and Steveston Secondary School close, in September of 2007.

Structural Seismic Mitigation
In 2004, the Ministry of Education carried out a seismic assessment of all schools constructed prior to 1992 in the high risk seismic zones of the province.  The assessment was based on the proposed 2005 Building Code, and 38 Richmond schools were included.   Portions of Brighouse and Garden City elementary schools were classified as high risk, and a request for funds to upgrade the schools was included in the 2005/06 Five-Year Capital Plan.  Funds to carry out feasibility studies for both of these schools have now been received, and the studies will be started early in 2006.  The feasibility studies will be based on the "Bridging Guidelines for the Seismic Retrofitting of Schools in British Columbia."  The "Bridging Guidelines" are the result of extensive analysis and testing of seismic capacities of typical school building elements and methods by the Ministry of Education, UBC's Department of Civil Engineering, and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC.  They represent the current "state of the art" in seismic retrofitting design.

Sale of Board Property at Shell Road & Steveston Highway
The sale of the 1.1 acre Board-owned property at Shell Road and Steveston Highway, the former Incentive School site, was completed on December 9, 2005.  The purchaser intends to use the facility as a learning centre for organic gardening and related topics, and has received preliminary approval from the City for the necessary zoning changes.  The proceeds from the sale have been placed in the Board’s Local Capital Reserve Account where they can be used to support the district's local capital needs.

Transportation Services
The Transportation Services Department is responsible for the movement of students and goods throughout the district.  The Transportation Department has 11 school runs to serve the students of the district with approximately 350 eligible riders.  Eligible riders are those students with special needs, or those who reside beyond the Ministry of Education walk limits from their catchment schools.  About another 150 students are courtesy riders, or are carried because a perceived need exists (i.e., Anderson, Tomsett students).  In addition, Transportation provides schools with field trip buses between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m.  The Department averages approximately 1,100 field trips per year.