Three and a half years after it was destroyed by a fire, the Kamloops Thompson School District has awarded the contract for the rebuild of the new Parkcrest Elementary School to Calgary-based Dawson Wallace Construction.

“It is a good day,” SD 73 Director of Facilities, Art McDonald, told NL News, noting it is the same contractor that is working on the Valleyview Secondary expansion project.

“We finished our tender process. I’m thinking they’ll be on site in about six weeks, to get their trailers ready and things like that to hopefully start doing some of the site work,” he said. “They’ll be in the ground I’d say before the summer.”

“It is a public tender process and anybody that’s qualified can submit a bid on these projects. In our world, we accept the lowest priced compliant bid.”

The B.C. government is contributing $34.84-million towards the project which will see the former 390-seat school grow to a 510-seat, given the expected growth in Brocklehurst.

The Kamloops-Thompson School District is adding $300,000, while the City of Kamloops has committed up to $2.5 million for the additional space required for a larger gymnasium which will be used for community sporting events.

“We are looking forward to a much-awaited ground-breaking for the Parkcrest project, which is to begin this spring with Dawson Wallace,” SD73 Board Chair, Heather Grieve, said. “Our experience with Dawson Wallace on the Valleyview Expansion project has been very positive.”

“We look forward to the strong school-community partnerships that are enabled by this collaborative effort to ensure that our school facilities meet the needs of children, youth, families, and the Brocklehurst neighbourhood.”

In a statement, Myron Grunsky of Dawson Wallace, said they’re “excited” to move forward with this project.

“We’re proud to continue serving the community of Kamloops,” he said, in a statement. “We have had the opportunity to establish relationships and have grown to appreciate not only the School District but the industry partners in the region.”

Chilliwack-based Station One Architects, which also designed the Valleyview expansion, designed the Parkcrest rebuild. A rendering of the one-storey, L-shaped building was released last June.

Construction is set to begin in this spring with the school expected to open by Spring 2024.

“We’ll see when we’re actually done and ready to occupy the building,” McDonald added. “There is a potential if we are done early enough that we could be looking at mid-year move but I won’t know that for a while yet.”

“We’re in the early stages, so we’re just signing contracts and those things.”