A design sketch of the Diehu Middle School under construction in Qidong. [Photo/ntfabu.com]

Diehu Middle School – one of the public works projects conducted by the Qidong municipal government in 2022 – broke ground in April and is scheduled to be completed in June 2023, with it welcoming its first group of students in September next year.

Located in the new urban area of Qidong – a county-level city administered by Nantong in East China's Jiangsu province – the school will be on a site covering 104,581 square meters and its buildings will have a total floor space of 72,566 sq m.

Costing some 400 million yuan ($59.2 million), the main structures will include teaching buildings, a laboratory, a library, an administration building, a gymnasium, an art building, dormitory buildings and a dining facility.

To ensure the construction schedule is met, the Diehu Middle School project team being operated by contractor Qidong Construction Group has carefully planned each stage amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

"We originally planned to have three pile drivers. Now, to guarantee the process of the project, we have equipped ourselves with five pile drivers and two dynamos," said project manager Chen Hongtao.

In addition to time constraints, the project team also needs to solve the problem of building materials shortage brought about by the epidemic.

With its elegant environment and first-class facilities, expectations are for the Diehu Middle School to be a high-quality modern school that can handle 3,000 students.