Moncton high school construction tender awarded

Caraquet's Foulem Construction has won a $27.4-million contract to build a new Moncton high school, the Department of Transportation and Infrastructure announced on Wednesday.

The new school is being built on the outskirts of the city near the Royal Oaks golf course, which has caused a significant controversy in the city since the plan was announced.

The 16,500-square-metre school is being built on a 13.2-hectare plotand will hold roughly 1,250 students.

The school will have 27 classrooms, a double gymnasium, two sports fields, science and technology laboratories, arts and music rooms, family studies rooms, an industrial arts area, two multi-purpose rooms, fitness room, library, stage, cafeteria, kitchen, and two elevators.

"The school will offer a dynamic learning and working environment in state-of-the-art facilities while stimulating the local economy during construction," said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Claude Williams in a statement.

The department said eight bids were received to construct the new high school.

David Foulem said his company has built other schools in the province and he will start mobilizing his contractors this week.

"We've built other schools across the province. This is the biggest school that we've built so far," he said.

"But this is substantially bigger in comparison and the scope of work, it's a beautiful project."

Foulem said the company's bid was $200,000 less than his closest rival. He said other bids came in at 28 or 29 million dollars.

The tender was issued in November 2012 and was closed in January.

Williams said in his statement that all the bids were "very competitive" and he claimed $11 million in savings for the provincial government.

The new high school will replace the historic Moncton High School, which is located in the citys downtown.

The Gothic-style stone building, included a 1,200-seat theatre, had to be closed temporarily in 2010 after a series of health and safety problems at the school.

The provincial government invested $2 million in repairs to make Moncton High safe as the new school is being constructed.

The New Brunswick government announced in December that it was again seeking proposals from developers who want to purchase and find a new use for the 77-year-old Moncton High School. The original request only bid did not meet the province's criteria, Williams said in December.

While the school is being built, the department has also been working with Moncton on upgrading infrastructure leading to the new school.

Aleft-hand turn has been built to act as a main entrance to the school, according to the department.