The new Jacques-Leber secondary school, located in Saint-Constant, is establishing itself as a benchmark for school infrastructure construction in Québec.

Delivered using a progressive design-build (PDB) model, this institutional project relies on an innovative collaborative approach that promotes the integration of expertise from the earliest stages.

With a total area of 16,920 m², the school includes 36 classrooms and 5 sports facilities distributed across three distinct sectors: a four-storey academic block combining steel and wood, a sports block featuring gymnasiums, a palaestra and bleachers, and a central core with a double-height lobby, a monumental staircase and a multipurpose room. The project also includes the demolition of the existing school and the development of outdoor spaces designed in collaboration with landscape architects, in compliance with SQI standards, school service centre requirements, and municipal and provincial regulations. Sustainable features, such as green roofs, are integrated as part of a responsible design approach.

As part of this multidisciplinary mandate, gbi acts as the lead firm for design and engineering. The team is responsible for technical planning, interdisciplinary coordination and the management of interfaces between disciplines. It leads the production of plans and specifications, oversees specialized studies, validates concepts and ensures quality control of deliverables. The use of BIM and collaborative tools enables efficient multidisciplinary coordination, proactive clash detection and seamless communication among all stakeholders.

This secondary school project demonstrates gbi’s ability to deliver sustainable, high-performance educational facilities tailored to community needs. It highlights a collaborative engineering approach where innovation, technical rigor and co-creation drive a high level of quality.