The next generation of our community is helping design the next generation of construction.
Young people are being consulted by organizers of the Foundry to build a new headquarters in 亚洲天堂 Lake especially for them. The second in a series of youth consultation meetings just wrapped up, led by Carrier Sekani Family Services (CSFS), the service agency leading the establishment of The Foundry in the Lakes District.
鈥淚n October 2022, the Foundry 亚洲天堂 Lake team, CSFS Youth Services, and the architect on the project (Sahuri and Associates) were in 亚洲天堂 Lake at LDSS to start engagement with the students on what they wanted their Foundry centre to look like,鈥� said Randi Mondor, the health services manager for CSFS, regarding the process so far. 鈥淎 March 13 event at LDSS was our second engagement event where we showed the youth the layout and some exterior and interior photos. We held this event to ensure we heard the youth correctly on what they provided in October 2022. We heard very positive responses from the youth that the building is beautiful, functional, they love that there are many 鈥榝lexible鈥� spaces, and cannot wait for the site to open. The youth stated they are excited to pop by on their lunch hour or after school.鈥�
It was announced in October that 亚洲天堂 Lake had been selected for the next chapter of The Foundry, which operates 14 other such facilities across the province. The two nearest are Prince George and Terrace. The 亚洲天堂 Lake expansion will be built from the ground up at the site of the former School District 91 bus compound on MacPhail road. Demolition of old structures has already been done.
鈥淔oundry is for all youth ages 12-24 that focuses on primary care, mental health and peer support,鈥� Mondor said. 鈥淪ince the centre is for youth, it is important to us that they are involved in the design phase to ensure the space is somewhere where they would feel comfortable to access services. In October, we did engagement by having the youth develop their own layout using gaming pieces, we showed various images of interior and exterior photos and also used guiding questions. At this engagement event in October, we had over 200 youth provide their input. We collected the data and information provided by the youth, collected the themes and a report and provided it to the architects where they developed the layout and started the design phase.鈥�
A fundraising campaign is also underway, with contributions already made by Michels Canada, Coastal GasLink and the most substantial kickoff provision of $250,000 from lumber company Hampton Affiliates. More is needed for the estimated cost of $4.1-million.
鈥淲e are currently in the process of hiring a construction manager and plan to break ground in spring, 2023,鈥� said Mondor. 鈥淥ur Leadership, Operations, and Family advisory committees are also involved in the engagement to ensure the building fits the needs of the 亚洲天堂 Lake community. More engagement events will be scheduled throughout the construction phase.鈥�
