Partners Selected to Build New Schools

Partners are now in place to build 31 new schools across Nova Scotia.

"School construction is on target," Education and Culture Minister Robbie Harrison said. "With today's announcement, we're ready to build as quickly as our partners can consult with school boards and communities, and get the schools under way."

Teams of school board and government representatives evaluated detailed proposals by a short list of partners, leading to these decisions. Sharing the workload among a number of partners means more school projects can start simultaneously.

Ashford Investments is the preferred partner for school construction in Cape Breton-Victoria and the Strait regional school boards. Municipal-Armoyan Construction will build schools for the Halifax Regional School Board, Conseil scolaire acadien provincial and Chignecto-Central Regional School Board. Nova Learning will partner with the Southwest and Annapolis Valley boards.

Project details and scheduling can now be discussed with school boards. At the same time, lease and financing arrangements will be finalized. Based on time-frames outlined by partners, construction of urgent schools will begin this fall.

Consultation with school boards and the community will continue to be a strength in planning for all new schools. Leases will be based on a predetermined all-inclusive price covering construction, operating, maintenance and new technology costs for 20 years. This means stable, predictable costs for school boards, and risk-sharing arrangements consistent with recommendations by the auditor general.

Today's announcement marks the end of a multi-phase selection process. In March, a call for expressions of interest was issued through the Public Tenders Office. Next, evaluation teams, with school board and government representatives, prepared a short list, and final selections were based on detailed proposals. These proposals were evaluated based on criteria in design, construction, implementation plans (delivery dates, community involvement, etc.), operating plans, risk-sharing and financing.