Ontario schools receiving $656.5M for HVAC retrofits and other upgrades
April 22, 2021 | By HPAC Magazine
The joint federal and provincial funding is to provide infrastructure upgrades to protect students and staff from COVID-19.
(Getty Images)
School boards across province of Ontario will benefit from $656.5 million in joint federal and provincial funding to provide infrastructure upgrades to protect students and staff from COVID-19 including almost $450 million for HVAC upgrades.
The funding, announced April 14, comes through the Investing in Canada Plan and will support over 9,800 projects at almost 3,900 schools and co-located childcare facilities across 74 school boards throughout Ontario.
The majority of funding will support ventilation projects that improve air quality in classrooms. Projects include HVAC renovations to improve air quality, but the funding will also include installing water bottle refilling stations to improve access to safe drinking water, investing in network and broadband infrastructure to support remote learning, and space reconfigurations such as new walls and doors to enhance physical distancing.
The Government of Canada is investing $525.2 million towards these projects through the COVID-19 Resilience stream of the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program. The Government of Ontario is contributing more than $131.3 million to the projects.
The funding includes:
- Almost $450 million for HVAC upgrades and improvements to air quality;
- Up to $80 million will go towards installing hand washing stations or touchless faucets and soap dispensers.
