Etobicoke - The Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) is one step closer with the award of a Consulting Firm at the March 8, 2018 Corporate Services Committee Meeting for the replacement of the existing St. Leo Catholic School at 165 Stanley Avenue in the Mimico Neighbourhood of Etobicoke. The purpose of the replacement is to accommodate the consolidation of the St. Leo and St. Louis Catholic Schools and will have an OTG capacity of 508 pupil places. With dual stream English and French immersion, the new school will also include a Child Care centre for 49 children and an Ontario Early Years Child and Family (OEYCFC) Centre. A Heritage Impact Assessment of the original 1926 St. Leo schoolhouse is included in the consultant’s scope of work, as it is currently listed on the Toronto Heritage Register and it is expected that some elements of the existing schoolhouse will be required to be preserved.
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RFP P-014-18 was issued on January 4, 2018 to the 11 firms prequalified for elementary replacement schools for full consulting services for the design and construction of the new elementary school to consolidate the student populations of St. Leo and St. Louis Catholic Schools. The scope of work also includes a Heritage Impact Assessment and selective demolition of the existing St. Leo school with preservation/renovation of designated heritage elements.
On January 25, 2018, eight (8) proposals were received from prequalified architectural firms and their sub consultant teams in response to RFP P-014-18:
- CS&P Architects
- Hossack & Associates Architects
- Kohn Shnier Architects
- MC Architects
- Moffet & Duncan Architects
- Montgomery Sisam Architects
- Snyder Architects
- Susan Friedrich Architect
The proposals were evaluated by a committee of Board Capital staff according to the criteria stipulated in the RFP. The first part of the evaluation utilized required criteria to determine a short list of the highest scoring firms to be further evaluated in an interview on February 14, 2018. Typically the top three or four highest scoring firms will be interviewed, depending on the point spread; however the fee proposed by the third ranked firm was not affordable within the Ministry benchmark. The following two (2) firms were selected to be interviewed:
- Kohn Shnier Architects
- MC Architects
The report recommends that a contract be awarded to the highest scoring firm, Kohn Shnier Architects to provide consulting services for the new elementary school to be constructed on the site of the existing St. Leo Catholic School for a total cost of $1,168,710.40 including net HST. Kohn Shnier Architects is expected to begin work with a goal to bring the preliminary design to the Local Design Committee for review before the end of the school year (June 2018).The report also recommends approval of a project budget of $15,451,071.00 for the construction of the new elementary school on the site of the existing St. Leo Catholic School and approval of a further $460,275.00 subject to Ministry approval of additional funding for unique site costs, for a total project budget of $15,909,203.The earliest occupancy date for the new school would be September 2021. However, time required for Municipal and Ministry approvals and/or delays in construction due to unforeseen conditions could delay completion beyond this date.