Upgrade on the way
New attic sprinkler system to be installed at Boularderie school
Boularderie Elementary School will soon be getting a new sprinkler system.
The Cape Breton-Victoria Regional School Board issued a tender last month for the installation and replacement of the school’s attic sprinkler system.
Tender applications closed on Tuesday and the school board expects work to begin at the Kempt Head Road school shortly.
“We’ve been looking at it (the sprinkler system) very carefully as to when we would replace it,” said Lewis MacDonald, co-ordinator of facilities management for the Cape Breton-Victoria board.
“We were concerned that we may have a failure in the near future, so we made the decision before Christmas to replace it.”
Boularderie Elementary School, which was built in 1999, has 65 students along with 14 staff members.
The current sprinkler system is the original one, installed during the school’s construction process.
MacDonald said there’s no exact date as to when sprinkler systems must be replaced.
“When the dry sprinkler system experiences air leaks in the piping, you know it’s time to start looking at replacement measures,” he said. “We’ve had some last longer, we’ve had some not last that long, so with any system it has a life cycle and this is right in the average life expectancy of one of these systems.”
MacDonald couldn’t confirm the cost of the project because the contract for the work has not yet been awarded.