A CLOSER LOOK

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NEW COAL HARBOUR SCHOOL OPENING DELAYED
City cites site constraints and worker shortage

by John Streit
(click images to enlarge)

There’s a new sign up at the Nelson Street main entrance to the Lord Roberts Annex in the West End reading “New School at Coal Harbour” and it has a lot of people passing by the 52-year-old elementary school doing a double take.

ROBERTS ANNEX NOW COAL HARBOUR SCHOOL
(EWAN STREIT PHOTO)

The simple white sign with black lettering is a little perplexing given the fact the school is not on the waterfront but still very much at Nelson Park – and it’ll remain there for the rest of the school year.

The Vancouver School Board says it had been informed by the City of Vancouver that it was not confident the new school being completed at Coal Harbour would be ready for occupancy in the fall of 2025, as previously expected. The VSB tells TWEJ “the City’s goal is for the school to be complete and ready for students for the start of the 2026-2027 school year, while aiming for construction completion in the spring.” It adds, “should completion occur sooner, we would move students in at the earliest feasible time.”

Most, including Lindsey Angell, chair of the Parent Advisory Committee (PAC) at Roberts Annex. believe an earlier Coal Harbour opening won’t be happening any time soon, as much more work needs to be completed before kids can move into the new school.

“Speaking for myself, as a parent,” said Angell, “I want the new building to be complete, safe and ready for everyone to move in. The PAC has been looking at ways to support families who have kids at two different schools. With every family, there are complexities when it comes to a change like this. Our goal as a PAC and in tandem with our principal and teachers is to create as little instability as possible for the students as they anticipate this change.”

As head of the PAC during a complicated transition, she appreciates the extra time to coordinate a successful move.

“We’re trying to anticipate safety concerns and anticipate any challenges that will arise for families as they navigate getting to and from the new school. The extension of the move does provide a bit of a cushion for us to put in place some more of these systems. In addition to the fact that without a name we haven’t been able to move forward. So, the more time we have, the more time we’ll have with this new identity and to translate this beautiful community that’s existed for decades and move it to this new school with as much care and attention as possible. I think while a mid-year move would have been helpful for a lot of families using after care at various locations and families that live a lot closer to the new school, I recognize it’s a construction project for a multi-use building and all the systems have to be working,” Angell tells TWEJ.\

COAL HARBOUR SCHOOL STILL A CONSTRUCTION SITE (ALBERT STOYNOV PHOTO)

For this school year, seven classes that were supposed to be held at Coal Harbour this past September are continuing at Roberts Annex (using all the classroom space in the school) and three are in session down the hill at the Lord Roberts Main School on Bidwell Street.

Angell has two sons going to Roberts Annex and became involved in the PAC primarily to help the hard-working staff at the school. “I think like a lot of parents, I wanted to support the teachers at my kids’ school so that some of the things I wanted to see happening there would roll out more effectively. Teachers have a lot on their plates these days,” she says.

The Vancouver School Board (VSB) says there are several reasons for the delay in opening the new building at Broughton at Hastings Streets - which not only includes a school but also a childcare centre and social housing above the classrooms.  

CITY SIGN NEEDS UPDATING AT COAL HARBOUR (ALBERT STOYNOV PHOTO)

“The City has explained this mixed-use site makes the project complex to begin with. Compounding this are the industry-wide challenges such as supply chain issues, changing market conditions, as well as a shortage of skilled labour. Site constraints have also affected progress, including limited space for staging and storage, proximity to the shore, poor soil conditions and the need for extensive groundwork,” according to the VSB, which added “we understand this is not the news that the Coal Harbour community was hoping for.”

With the delay, Angell and her PAC now have more time to work with the City and Park Board, smoothing some of the concerns brought by parents sending their children to Coal Harbour.

“The playground at the new school is sorely lacking. It was kind of overlooked in the plans as they took shape. With the anticipation of the new building, the Park Board and the City were really the ones managing that play space. So, we’ve really had to build inroads with those bodies to get movement and basically get allocated funds so that we can have an age-appropriate playground. There will certainly be an element of fundraising that the PAC will have to undertake to support the new playground. We’re not certain how high the expense will be for that part of the project given the fact that there are concerns with the stability of the membrane that exists underneath that playground on top of a parkade. There are a lot of challenges that come with those upgrades. But we’re grateful that the project office, the City and the Park Board continue to collaborate and we’re looking forward to seeing that project through and being that much closer to the playground completed when we move in,” she says.

ROBERTS ANNEX PAC CHAIR LINDSEY ANGELL (Photo courtesy of LINDSEY ANGELL)

For now, the Park Board says it’s committing $195,000 for a playground renewal at the park adjacent to Coal Harbour school, with more communication on the design, engagement and overall process to come. Construction would start in the summer of 2026.

“The fencing is going to be upgraded to ensure the safety of smaller children so it’s not possible for them to slip through those wires which have large gaps in them. There’s even a circular area with bamboo growing out of it which has a sheer drop to the parkade – the railing there is going to extended and heightened. As a parent, it’s become clear to me that you really have to advocate to create opportunities for your community to come together and share concerns,” Angell says.

For those living in Coal Harbour, the walk or ride to school will be vastly shortened when the new school opens. But for those living near Roberts Annex, that’s going to be a very different commuting experience through arguably the busiest part of the downtown core.

The Vancouver School Board says it’s been actively working with the City to identify and prioritize safety improvements along routes to and from the new school.

“The City has informed us that they plan to install flashing beacons and curb bulges at Alberni and Broughton and Alberni and Jervis to improve pedestrian safety and comfort. They have also advised that there are other upgrades they are planning to improve safety for people walking or biking to and from the new school,” according to the VSB. Also included are raised crosswalks plus four signal upgrades giving people more time to cross at Jervis and West Hastings, Bute and Melville, Cardero and West Georgia, along with Bute and Robson.

Angell says the PAC is working to try to make the new walk to school as safe as possible, but also enjoyable.

COAL HARBOUR PLAYGROUND SET TO BE UPGRADED (ALBERT STOYNOV PHOTO)

“We’re also as a school going to be developing a walking program to make the commute more interesting and fun for students, but also move as a group so we can have more of a presence. We’ll call it a ‘Walking School Bus,’ or something like that. In addition to that, incentivizing how kids get to school with step programs, dealing with things perceived to be challenges and celebrating kids that go to school in a city,” she says.

The Vancouver School Board says it’s also proposing a new bike lane to help kids safely ride to school. “The protected bike route would run between Hornby Street and the Coal Harbour Seawall, connecting the new school to the city’s All Ages and Abilities (AAA) active transportation network. This will provide a 0.9 km extension of the existing two-way protected bike lane along Dunsmuir and Melville Streets and passing the new school via West Hastings and Broughton Streets,” the City responds to TWEJ.

Not everything in a new (and larger) school is paid for by the province and municipalities and Parent Advisory Committee are often left to scramble to fundraise for what many would believe are basics when it comes to an appropriate educational environment. Angell and her PAC are reaching out for your generosity.

“We will be fundraising because our school has grown exponentially. We’re going from a Kindergarten to Grade 3 school to a K-7. Given that we’re no longer doing a mid-year move, we’ll be a full K-7 next year. We will be fundraising for several areas including the library, art and the gym. The equipment that’s needed for older kids, not having a playground ready necessarily is also why we want great sports equipment like pinnies and nets available on day one at the new school.

COAL HARBOUR SCHOOL ARTIST RENDERING (CITY OF VANCOUVER GRAPHIC)

None of this would happen if BC Hydro hadn’t needed Nelson Park along with the property beneath Roberts Annex to build a new subterranean West End Substation. The public power utility now says construction is being advanced a year and will start in late 2026, with completion expected in late 2031.

Angell says that land transaction between Hydro, COV, VSB and Park Board happened rather quickly given what needed to be done, and now everyone is playing catch-up.

“I find it frustrating, like a lot of other parents living in the West End, the pressure on families to exist in spaces that are shared with a wide range of communities. Not to allow fear to be the guiding principle. There’s a sentimental piece to the school closure and some anticipatory grief. The construction that’ll be taking place is in a park that is used by the whole West End community. Whether you walk on your way to work along the path, have a picnic with friends or enjoy some berries from the Farmer’s Market. We will be working with the community as much as we can and continue to ask BC Hydro questions about what they’re going to do to minimize the impact of this project on the broader community. I encourage West Enders to also have those conversations with Hydro representatives and send an email, because that’s how we make change, right?”

RELATED LINKS

West Ender John Streit has been a B.C. radio, TV and online journalist
for more than 20 years. You can listen to John anchor
Global News on 730 CKNW in Vancouver.