The Government of The Bahamas will construct a new state-of-the-art primary and secondary school on twenty acres of shared land in North Victoria Hill, San Salvador.
Work has already begun on clearing the site on which the two new schools will sit in northeast of North Victoria Hill in an area known as the Harbour Yard. The current school is located on a temporary site and used four trailers to accommodate school facilities. During the passage of Hurricane Joaquin three of those four trailers were severely damaged as was other parts of the school. The current site also lacked an integrated functionality as all of the buildings were stand-alone which presented mobility challenges during adverse weather.
The new primary school, which will be a state-of-the-art school, will replace the current school (located in Cockburn Town) and will include a computer room that will accommodate 25 students per classroom with their own dedicated workspace and laptop, a library room, music room with special acoustic features, art room, a sick bay for students with restrooms, study rooms, administration block, public waiting area, public and staff restrooms and sports facilities for basketball, softball, track and field and tennis.
The current school has a compliment of 100 students. When the new school is completed, it is anticipated that it will be able to accommodate as many as 200 students.
The primary school will boast a number of “special architectural features” included connected, covered walkways to all classrooms and building spaces that will protect the students, staff and administration from adverse weather conditions while allowing them unaltered access to classrooms and buildings during such conditions; natural cooling of cross ventilation in each classroom via adequate windows; four electrical ceiling fans in each classroom to assist with cooling spaces; storage cabinets; ceramic floor tiles and covered assembly area that would reduce the need to have children standing in the sun for assembly.
It will be designed with roof finishes consisting of 40-year architectural asphalt shingles and hurricane resistant windows, and external and internal doors. Air conditioning cooling systems will filter cool air to the library, computer room, art classroom and administration and staff rooms.
Livingston Forbes, Chief Architect, Department of Public Works, Ministry of Works and Urban Development, and Chief Architect for the Project, said the “interconnectedness” of attaching all the classrooms and building spaces with covered walkways, is significant.
“This allows 100 per cent functionality in terms of adverse weather as the students will be able to move about freely and comfortably to and from each classroom without getting wet in the instance of rain and so that is significant,” Mr. Forbes said.
“Anytime we design schools we do so with the desire to ensure that the students, staff and administration and island in general receive a quality designed and built school for the future generations to come, and so we are thinking forward and we are thinking holistically in terms of providing proper accommodations for our students that can match facilities of those in the developed world – regardless of where they reside in the Commonwealth of The Bahamas.
“At the end of the day, when the Government would have constructed the school, I believe the public will have a great appreciation for the facility the Government will put on the ground in San Salvador,” Mr. Forbes added.
Mr. Forbes said the relocation to North Victoria Hill will allow for greater functionality, while also allowing for the creation and construction of the sports facilities that are not available at the current location. The new site allows for all of the core sports to function at the primary school level.
The Ministry of Works and Urban Development, which will serve as the executing technical agency for the construction of both schools on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, and will be responsible for providing the technical expertise in areas such as electrical and mechanical engineering, quantity surveying and plumbing.
The plans for the new primary school were drawn by officials of the Ministry of Works and Urban Development. Mr. Geronimo Brice, who served as the architect, will serve as the Project Technician, while Mr. Michael Rolle will serve as Project Engineer (Mechanical) and Mr. Mark Hanna will serve as Project Engineer (Electrical and Plumbing).
“The Ministry of Works and Urban Development provides multiple services for many projects that the public needs. In terms of building projects, we have full team here including architects, structural engineers, mechanical engineers, civil engineers, plumbing, air-conditioning and quantity surveyors who are fully trained and qualified. Sometimes we have to outsource some of the work because of the great demand, however, our people here at the Ministry are top-of-the-line and they are of tremendous importance to us in terms of executing these projects and we appreciate the work that they do.”
Construction of the primary school is expected to be completed eighteen months after all relevant Government approvals have been attained and contracts signed. Construction of the new secondary school will begin after the primary school is completed.
By: Matt Maura/ BIS
Photo source: nona.net
