As classrooms get crowded, some schools look to prefab construction as permanent solution

On a late May morning, with birdsong, boots crunching gravel and a patter of rain on umbrellas replacing the clamour of a busy construction site, trustees from the Sooke School District toured the prefabricated addition going up at David Cameron Elementary in Colwood, B.C.

Maroon exterior panels rose over an expansive concrete slab foundation poured just a few weeks earlier. Roof panels — shrink-wrapped and lined up in stacks to the side — would be next, and estimated to take mere days to fasten together.

"It's kind of a little IKEA … some assembly required," noted site superintendent Chris Armstrong. "Considerably quicker than a traditional building style, which is part of the appeal, I would say."

Portable classrooms are common in Canada, a go-to response to student enrolment surges happening across the country. But some jurisdictions are taking modular, prefabricated construction a step further: as a permanent way to address overcapacity challenges.

Proponents see prefab as an ideal way to speed up expansions and new builds. Yet some are concerned if it's the right solution for schools.

Serving communities west of Victoria targeted as part of a B.C. regional growth strategy, Sooke School District has seen enrolment grow an average of 435 students annually in the last five years alone, said superintendent and CEO Paul Block. 

"Essentially an elementary school every single year," he said. 

Sooke's facilities planners have kept their municipal counterparts, local politicians and B.C.'s Ministry of Education updated on details of that growth throughout, from long-range enrolment projections amid new housing developments to the schools growing most rapidly to the types of buildings required.

Block says those partnerships helped make Sooke a prime choice for the new prefab initiative B.C. announced last October. Following the announcement, they quickly assembled a project definition report for two elementary school additions, and "by January 2024, we were putting shovels to ground," he said.

This September, each location will be ready to welcome up to 190 more students.

"So far, all indications are that these prefabs will be the same quality as our regular schools and in fact will be a little bit more up-to-date as well, with modern technology like heat pumps," said Block.  

"[Prefabs] need to be built now and as quickly as possible, but at the same level of quality that a regular build would have," he said, noting that prefabs can alleviate pressure in schools facing the biggest crunch, while traditional builds can be earmarked for areas seeing slower growth.

Prefab construction isn't new, but it has resurfaced recently amid discussions of ways to quickly boost Canada's housing stock. It ranges from buildings comprised of pre-made panels to connecting mostly completed modules to totally finished building units. 

In school settings, however, prefab has historically been associated with portable classrooms, which have a reputation for being industrial-looking, feeling too hot or cold and susceptible to problems like poor air quality and mold.