Mckenzie Highlands Middle School

The McKenzie Highlands Middle School is one of two new community middles schools awarded to Maple Reinders and constructed for the Calgary Board of Education (CBE). The school is a two-storey building with a durable exterior finish. It is located in a densely populated suburban area and has a capacity of 900 students.

The design of this school is unique to Calgary and incorporates precast wall panels, pre-fabricated wood panels and glulam beams to support the structure. A crosslaminated decking system carries the second floor. The design also has an open ceiling concept in the classrooms and hallways which showcases the wood structure above as well as the mechanical ducting, piping, fixtures and electrical conduit runs. The design’s intent was to showcase these for the curious minds of the students. This type of a design made the coordination involved between subtrades, contractor and consultants very extensive. Maple Reinders also purchased all of the wood required for the construction. The exterior consists of exposed precast, brick, split faced block and Hardi-board panels.

During the span of the project, the Maple Reinders team was responsible for the tracking of all materials (including the recycled content and renewable resources) used, the tracking of all waste and recycling, weekly indoor air quality reviews as well as a weekly check on the environmental sedimentary control plan on site. The Maple Reinders team also managed the delivery and installation of the owner supplied equipment for the Woodshop, Foods Room and Staff Kitchen along with coordinating other school deliveries and set-up with the CBE Facilities team.

The Maple Reinders team had many conversations with the community, where parents expressed their excitement for this new middle school build for the McKenzie Town Community.

McKenzie Highlands Middle School is a LEED^® Silver project.