As the holidays draw ever-nearer, students of Cedar Hill Middle School are close to finishing their first term in the brand new school facility.
The Greater Victoria School District (SD61) is celebrating the upgraded, seismically safe replacement building for Cedar Hill Middle School, which replaced the near 100-year-old building used previously.
Construction began in 2023 and the new school opened to students on Friday, September 5th.
Following the opening, phase two of the project began to come together to handle the demolition of the original Cedar Hill Middle School building which was initially built in 1931.
The former facility had been assessed as having a seismic rating of H-1, which is the highest level of seismic vulnerability on the scale.
Meanwhile, the new school is officially the greenest building in the school district, and provides a 90% reduction in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions versus a baseline school model.
This GHG reduction was primarily achieved through the inclusion of air source heat pumps, ground source heat pumps, a geothermal field and a 100kW photovoltaic system.
“A building like this doesn’t just happen; it takes a community,” said Stephen Monahan, manager of Major Capital Projects, SD61.
“As we look ahead to completing Phase 2 of the project, which includes the demolition of the old school, installation of the geothermal ground loop, and site landscaping, we are reflecting on the many hands and hearts that brought us here.”
A completed, controlled demolition of the old school is anticipated for February 2026.
See a video created by SD61 showing off the upgrades in the brand new Cedar Hill Middle School.
