Thank you for the invitation. We're really happy to participate.
Mr. Martin, I appreciate your encouragement for us to enter into debate, but I'm going to decide to reflect on some of our experiences and I'm going to do my best not to editorialize throughout that.
We'll share some of the background with you on our experiences with the Alberta schools alternative procurement program, and I'll refer to it as ASAP, or ASAP 1 and 2, because we've gone through two rounds here in Edmonton Public Schools.
In Alberta, the provincial government's analysis of the economic climate and evaluation process determined during the last five years that a combined procurement model was the most effective delivery approach for building new schools. In Edmonton Public, that included six K to 9 schools, and later three K to 9 schools. Edmonton Catholic also built three during the same period using the same model.
The key goals of the ASAP projects were to build a large number of new schools in developing and developed neighbourhoods; consolidate schools into a single package for design, construction, and maintenance; and use public/private partnerships—P3s—to design, build, and finance the schools and maintain them for 30 years. This means that the contractor will oversee the design and construction of our schools using designs already developed in consultation with school boards and municipalities. It means a contractor also finances and maintains the buildings for that 30-year period.
The design of these schools is called a core school design. The core school concepts incorporate a permanent central space that includes a gymnasium, library, administration offices, classrooms, and specialty classrooms such as a music room, art room, and career and technology study labs, or CTS labs. Additional classroom space is provided through the use of modular classrooms that can be added and removed in response to changes in enrolment. From the governance perspective, the use of core school designs can improve the efficiency of construction, creating optimal value of public funds for a large-scale construction project.
Another important feature relates to the fact that all schools meet high-quality provincial standards and are built to achieve LEED—leadership in energy and environmental design—silver certification, an independent rating system used to measure environmental efficiencies. LEED-based construction will result in up to 45% greater energy efficiency and provide a healthier environment through improved air quality and the use of natural light.
What role did our school district play? Since our initial involvement with a project at Edmonton Public Schools, district staff had some general input into the core design process, as did several other school districts. Once the final design for the three basic school models was approved, the government engaged in a tendering process to complete the DBFM approach. The school board reviews its capital plan on an annual basis, and the board had already determined its need for new school construction and reflected this in its plan. The priority listing for construction was adopted by the government, and we immediately had to take concrete action to finalize sites, secure appropriate permits, and support the contractor with access to the sites.
Edmonton Public Schools has a joint-use agreement, or JUA, with the City of Edmonton and Edmonton Catholic Schools to allow community use and access after school hours for organized recreation and community activities. These new schools had to allow for this kind of use, and this was permitted in both rounds of construction.
The challenge for the community arose when local community groups wanted to lease space for activities such as play schools and other community services. The initial project did not allow for any leasing of space to third parties because of the complexities and potential risks associated with a contracted agreement. The agreement was also very complex, and adding another party would have made it even more so. We are happy to say, however, that the second round of schools provided some flexibility in this area.
It is a jurisdiction's decision whether or not to make these facilities available for other community uses outside the traditional joint-use agreement. School boards were encouraged to consider joint school and community use and plans to ensure that schools are child- and community-focused. We have partnered with the YMCA to create before- and after-school programs, which provide valuable services within the community. The ability to lease commercial operations is subject to meeting the requirements of the school board's purpose as defined in the Municipal Government Act, and would include child care operators, daycare operators, and other community use operations connected to school use.
Although it is still limited, it's definitely a move in the right direction when we look back at phases 1 and 2.
I'll describe some of the challenges that we've seen with the ASAP projects. I'm happy that Toby's here today and I want to highlight that we've worked really closely with our CUPE staff groups.
We work with three CUPE staff groups, namely support staff, custodial staff, and maintenance staff. Each of the groups presented dissenting and concerning arguments for the board not to enter into these agreements, but the real and pressing need for new schools was great, and the board of the day chose to move ahead.
The one group most affected by the project is the maintenance group. Maintenance is provided through the 30-year agreement. All maintenance of the buildings is conducted by the external party, Honeywell. After some initial relationships and quality issues, all groups have moved much closer together to address immediate and pressing issues.
Second, any small changes within the building required a formal change order, adding considerable time to the process. Modification may be needed to address student need, making the process less responsive than it might be in a traditional construction school. This will continue to be an area of focus for the term of the agreement.
Finally, in this area, custodial staff provides all services except for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning management, as is the case in most district buildings. Again, adjustment to the HVAC system requires calling Honeywell to address it. The response times have improved dramatically, but of course when we use our own maintenance staff, we think we have the best maintenance staff anywhere.
In terms of design, some design challenges emerged, particularly around exterior drainage and sidewalk entrances, in addition to the main entrances. These were rectified in the second round of the design. Adjustments were made to the interior design in the second round, making some spaces slightly larger for special purposes, such as the CTS labs for career and technology studies. For slight modifications and improvements in designs, the parties worked to be accommodating and supportive.
Finally, I'd like to say how grateful we are to have these schools. The children in these schools are happy to have shorter commutes to and from school as well as top-quality buildings to learn in. I also want to say how proud we are of our staff and all workers who were involved in the construction and opening of these buildings. The projects were completed on time, and we were happy to fill these sites with students who are keen and who are working very hard, although they're probably still sleeping this morning.
That said, we'd be pleased to respond to any questions you might have.
Thank you.