Opening Monday

Thursday, 20 March 2014 11:33

A long awaited move is underway for employees with the Children's Aid Society of Oxford County.

WOODSTOCK -- Moving for most families or businesses is stressful enough, but what about consolidating three different offices under one roof?

That's essentially what's happening for Oxford Children's Aid Society this week. Employees there have been waiting almost two years to move into their new 10-point-7 million dollar location on the southeast corner of Wilson and Peel streets in Woodstock. The CAS main office on the corner of Light and Buller Streets will join with it's 989 Dundas Street location and also with those out of the Oxford-Elgin Child and Youth Centre building.

Oxford CAS Executive Director Bruce Burbank says the new facility will consolidate all operations back into one building and is expected to meet the Society's occupancy needs for the decades to come.

"We work in a very collaborative work setting, so it has been a challenge to have people running back and forth between the two or three buildings and having daily mail runs between them and those sorts of things."

According to Burbank, not everything will travelling with employees to the new facility.

"We're going to a more open concept design, so we've had to procure more modular furniture because we couldn't take everything we had. Some of our audio visual equipment will be new, and our enhanced security system with 24-hour video monitoring is one of the main building features."

Construction began in August 2012, but was delayed for three months following the discovery of ground water which called for a re-design of the building. The delay resulted in some additional costs bringing the total hard construction costs to over 10-and-a-half million dollars.

"We've been able to stay on budget, and include the features that needed to be included to enhance service delivery and make sure our staff have a good place from which to work," Burbank said Wednesday.

The new building includes three stories totalling 36-thousand square feet plus a lower level including storage and mechanical rooms, along with dedicated staff, community and youth spaces.

Employees will begin work at the new next Monday with a grand opening to come later this Spring.