The Greater Victoria School District (SD61) has revealed the first look inside the brand new Cedar Hill Middle School, which has been under construction since 2023.
The current school was constructed nearly 100 years ago and desperately needed to be replaced which has been in the works over the last couple years.
The main focus of the middle school’s replacement was to ensure it would be seismically safe in the event of an earthquake. Now, the new school has been graded with an H-1 rating, which is the highest seismic-safe rating possible.
Additionally, the new Cedar Hill Middle School will be the greenest school in all of SD61, providing a 90% reduction in greenhouse gases.
Much of this greenhouse gas reduction will be achieved through the school’s heat pumps, a geothermal field that will be added after completion and solar panels.
Every classroom will also feature windows to provide natural light for students and will be grouped together with other classrooms that open up to a large collaborative space to provide a smaller learning environment within a larger building.
Other features of the new school will include: ramps and an elevator to improve accessibility, Indigenous culture and artwork as well as outdoor learning spaces to enhance land-based, hands-on learning.
The next phase of construction will include drywall, painting, flooring, and elevator installation.
SD61 says the school is still on track to be completed this summer and will welcome students back in September for the new school year. Until that time, students will remain in the current school.
Below is a video of how the replacement school’s construction is going so far:
The school replacement was funded mostly by the BC government who contributed $42.9 million while SD61 spent $3.6 million on the project.
The existing Cedar Hill Middle School will be demolished and replaced with a geothermal loop once the new school is complete.
