Construction Connect: Episode 1
On March 6th, 2020, students gathered in Dixon Gym and then moved to the fields for the groundbreaking ceremony that commenced the School’s new construction project. Since then, much progress has been made. However, due to the great interest on the part of the student body, our team has created Construction Connect. The goal is to update the St. George's Community about the progress of the construction. The team consists of four Grade 11 students — Darren Li, Michael Li, Steven Wen, and William Tu — in conjunction with the Advancement and Communications Department. Since our group has constantly heard comments from students who are wondering about the progress of the construction, our group decided to take action. We hope that this service will paint a clearer picture of the new facilities that students will enter at the start of the 2023–24 school year.
The plan for the construction involves three new facilities, including two L-shaped, academic buildings (left), and a community hall (right), all surrounding a beautiful new quad, which will unify the campus.
The four-story academic buildings will house most classroom spaces and learning resources. The community hall will contain dining tables and a mezzanine with 240 seats. This place will serve as the dining hall and also as a celebration space for school events.
Currently, most spaces in the Senior School do not provide the best learning experiences for students: many classrooms have a lack of natural lighting, filtered rather than fresh air ventilation, and oftentimes too compact spaces. However, our new facilities will provide more natural lighting as well as a more flexible and collaborative classroom environment. The design work by Gensler Architecture puts us on par with Shanghai Tower and the Facebook Headquarters as their premiere projects. Additionally, the construction plan was rated Leed Gold, indicating that these new facilities are highly eco-friendly.
Unfortunately, COVID-19 postponed the beginning of this project, and the construction only began in the Summer of 2021. During this break, the crew finished the excavation process where 100 trucks came by every day. Then they began working on the below-grade construction. As of now, two levels of the academic buildings have been built, and we are now in the process of building the third level. Furthermore, during Spring Break, construction began to build our community hall. The pieces are coming together.
The hope is for the construction to finish so the School can open during the 2023–24 school year. We hope you will join us on this amazing journey and follow Construction Connect until we cut the red ribbon in front of our brand new Senior School, which will soon be the home of fine young men for the next hundred years!