Province grants $51.6M to rebuild London's Regina Mundi Catholic College

The Ministry of Education has granted the London District Catholic School Board $51.6 million to rebuild Regina Mundi Catholic College (RMCC) in south London, Ont. 

The current building will stay open while the new building is constructed, said Debbie Jordan, superintendent of building and corporate services with the school board. 

"The actual new location of the school is not in the exact same place. It's on the same property, but adjacent to it," she said. 

The original budget for the school was a little over $19 million, she said, but delays to the project, recent inflation and the cost of demolishing the existing building caused the cost of the project to increase.

RMCC was originally a junior seminary for boys, which opened in 1963 for 60 students. The school later became a boarding school and was converted into a regular high school in 1983. In 1987, the school welcomed female students and became co-ed. 

Jordan said the new school will still keep some of the old building's design elements, including stained glass windows, but will have modern features students need, like new classrooms built specifically for the specialist high skills major program.

The new school, which is planned to start construction in spring 2024, will have room for 700 more students, which Jordan said is needed in the region.

Other planned expansions in the near future include an $11.1 million addition to St. Michael's Catholic Elementary School in Woodstock, which will make room for 230 new students. 

"We are expanding. Our population is increasing tremendously. Many people are moving into our area as well. So we'll be moving forward with additional capital priority plan plans and projects as well," she said.