Destroyed by Fire in 2019, Now a $56 Million Rebuild: A Church of God School Breaks Ground on a Two-Storey Admin Block

• Ardenne Preparatory and Extension High School on Hope Road is building a new administration block
• The old building was destroyed by fire on September 28, 2019
• The two-storey project was estimated to cost about $56 million
• The Church of God in Jamaica’s executive chairman led the groundbreaking

Nearly three years after fire destroyed its administrative building, Ardenne Preparatory and Extension High School in St Andrew had started building again. The Jamaica Observer reported that ground was broken on July 14 for a new two-storey administration block at the Hope Road school.

The ceremony was led by Rev Adinhair Jones, executive chairman of the Church of God in Jamaica. He was joined by Rev W George Lewis, a member of the school board, school chaplain Pastor George Pottinger and vice-principal Dorothy Britton McKenzie.

The new building replaces the administration block destroyed by fire on September 28, 2019, and it will do more than house offices. Plans include a sick bay, a general assembly area, classrooms, a computer laboratory, a reading laboratory and, later, a performing arts area.

Dennis Barnaby Construction Limited is the contractor, and Burrowes and Wallace are the quantity surveyors. The project was estimated to cost about $56 million, with completion expected in 2023. For a school that has been operating without its main administrative home since the fire, the new block will bring offices, health care and teaching space back under one roof.

Church-run schools are among the most valuable property many denominations own, sitting on prime land in places like Hope Road. The Ardenne project gives a useful benchmark: about $56 million for a two-storey, multi-use block in the Corporate Area. It also shows how much a single fire can cost a school, including the years spent without the building. Churches that own schools should make sure buildings are insured for their full rebuilding cost, fire safety is checked regularly, and records such as titles and building plans are stored away from the premises. When rebuilding, designing for several uses, as Ardenne has done, gets more from every square foot of expensive city land.

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