Following roof collapse, Burlington school will get new gym

Content Originally Published on:

September 11, 2023 at 11:01 am

The Halton District School Board (HDSB) has approved the spending of $2.65 million to rebuild at Glenview Public School on Townsend Ave. following the collapse of the gymnasium at the beginning of July.

The new 6,400-square-foot gym will take about 15 months to build.

Students at the school have since returned to classes. The rest of the school has been deemed safe by inspectors and engineers.

School administrators say the 450 students at Glenview will receive their physical education at St. Matthew on the Plains church and Active Aldershot.

The collapse happened over two days beginning on July 2. However, in June the area was declared off-limits when school officials became concerned over the structural integrity of the gym when cracks and broken drywall began to appear. The complete demolition and clean-up of the gym area has since taken place.

According to the HDSB, the roof was replaced in 2017 and is inspected every six months.

It is not known why the roof caved in, however, the design of the Glenview gym was unique in that it used wooden trusses, unlike other schools in the system that have a combination of materials including concrete, steel and wood trusses.

The roofs of other schools in the HDSB have now been inspected.

Since the gym collapse the school has “undergone an inspection of all classrooms and other spaces to ensure the remainder of the school is structurally sound and safe for returning staff, students, and community,” the board states on its website.