Projects / Jacques-Leber High School
A school landmark rooted in its community
In Saint-Constant, the new Jacques-Leber High School was conceived as a clear, welcoming landmark firmly rooted in its community. From the earliest stages of the design process, the goal was to create a school immediately recognizable as a familiar, legible, and reassuring place, capable of supporting students through an important stage of their journey, particularly during the transition to high school.
Delivered through a progressive design-build (PDB) approach, a first for the Société québécoise des infrastructures, the project relied on a collaborative process that brought together expertise from the very beginning. This delivery method fostered a shared understanding of objectives, risks, and optimization opportunities, while supporting the coordination required to deliver a large-scale school project within an exceptionally ambitious schedule.
The project responds to a concrete community need. The new school includes a building of approximately 16,920 m², designed to accommodate 1,276 students. The program notably includes 36 classrooms and 5 sports facilities, organized around three main components: a four-storey academic wing, an athletic wing with a gymnasium and bleachers, and a central core bringing together the double-height entrance hall, the main staircase, and the multipurpose room.
The architecture and interior design draw from the specific context of Saint-Constant. The project is inspired by the area’s built heritage and collective memory, particularly the “boomtown”-style houses popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, whose warm-toned clay masonry still defines the identity of the city’s historic core today.
The use of red brick places the school within this urban continuity while asserting a contemporary, civic presence that remains approachable and connected to the community.
This desire for rootedness is expressed through an architecture that is restrained, enduring, and identifiable. The building does not seek spectacle, but appropriateness: a lasting image, luminous spaces, and interior environments conducive to learning, social interaction, and a sense of belonging. The combined use of steel and mass timber in the academic wing’s learning spaces, a first for this type of building, along with the quality of the common areas and the presence of a generous central core, help create a structured and supportive living environment for students and staff alike.
The design is also part of a broader sustainable development and community integration vision, in line with the project’s public objectives, which include pursuing LEED certification.
Beyond its educational function, Jacques-Leber is intended to become a key public facility for Saint-Constant. Built adjacent to the existing school to ensure continuity of activities during construction, the new school is scheduled to welcome students starting in September 2026. It will provide larger indoor and outdoor environments, better suited to current educational realities and designed to support academic success, community life, and students’ connection to their environment.