Arviligruaq Illiniarvik School

A 4,632m2 kindergarten to grade 12 school, designed to accommodate up to 450 students in the Hamlet of Kugaaruk, Nunavut, with a population 933 residents.

Fire destroyed the only school in Kugaaruk in February 2017 and a replacement was required to be delivered urgently. A request for a Design-Build Proposals was issued 31 March, 2017. In June 15, 2017, a contract was awarded to the Design-Build Team.

Mitigation of risks like shipping challenges, and putting in place a phased design, production and construction model for the building allowed it to go from a blank sheet of paper, to completion of the building in just 27 months. This was especially impressive given the remote nature of the area.

Nunavut represents a series of challenges for materials and equipment logistics, with all materials, equipment and accommodation able to be brought into the community on the annual sealift. All workers had to fly into the hamlet.

At the same time, the south end of the Gulf of Boothia in Pelly Bay has predominant winds from the North that tend to blow the pack ice into the bay, making it extremely difficult for the barge to access the Hamlet.