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100-year-old school faces demolition |
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Written by Trish Elliott
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Saturday, 02 June 2012 |
The mantra was all too familiar: renovating Regina's 100-year-old Connaught Community School will be expensive and difficult. It the community wants to keep the J.H. Puntin-designed building, it must fundraise at least $4 million. Otherwise, it will likely be replaced with a more 'efficient' design, possibly in a new location. This was the core message delivered by school board consultant James Youk of P3Architecture at a May 30 public meeting in the school gym.
The school is located in Regina's Cathedral neighbourhood on 13th and Elphinstone, opposite historic Connaught Library Branch. It is named in the City of Regina's Neighbourhood Development Plan as a significant heritage asset for the city, an opinion echoed in a recent heritage assessment report.
The P3 report will not be made publicly available until June 19, when the board deliberates on the options it presents. As meeting attendee Joanne Havelock noted, this makes it very difficult for community members to examine and respond to the document, forcing them to rely on there "chicken scratch notes" gathered from Youk's summary Powerpoint presentation. It was made clear in the meeting that no second opinions will be sought on the potential cost of repair.
Meanwhile, RealRenewal has posted some related background documents on the school's structure, including the heritage assessment, here.
The school's ongoing history is documented on its centennial website, www.connaught100.com
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 02 August 2012 )
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