On October 7, Rocky View Schools marked the start of construction on two new Kindergarten to Grade 9 (K–9) schools in Airdrie's Bayview and Chestermere's Dawson's Landing neighbourhoods. Each school will create space for 905 students, adding a combined 1,810 student spaces in two of Alberta's growing communities.
The need is significant. In Airdrie, Bayview will become Rocky View Schools' first facility in the neighbourhood, bringing learning closer to home for local families. In Chestermere, school enrolment has increased by approximately 40 per cent since the community's last new school opened in 2014.
The schools are part of two separate infrastructure partnership programs: Alberta P3 Schools Bundle #6 (Bayview) and Alberta P3 Schools Bundle #7 (Dawson's Landing). Both are being delivered by Concert-Bird Partners, a consortium led and managed by Concert Infrastructure. Together, the programs will deliver 13 schools with capacity for more than 11,400 students across Alberta.
The value of these partnerships extends well beyond construction. Through a design-build-finance-maintain approach, private capital and specialized expertise are brought together under agreements that establish responsibility for project delivery and long-term performance. The schools remain publicly owned, while the consortium is accountable for maintenance through 2058.
This means considering how the schools will be maintained and perform over their full lifecycle, not just how they will be built. Delivering schools through coordinated programs also creates opportunities to apply common solutions and efficiencies across multiple sites.
We appreciate the continued collaboration of the Government of Alberta, Rocky View Schools and our project partners as these new learning environments move toward anticipated openings in 2028.
Images courtesy of Rocky View Schools.