In its first meeting this school year, the Hildreth Elementary School Building Committee gave final approval to the selection of NV5 as the project manager for the school’s renovation. The committee then discussed and approved a notice seeking an architect for the project. The request for designer services (RFS) was scheduled for publication this week, with applications from architects due by the end of October.
The Sept. 29 meeting was the full committee’s first meeting with NV5 since the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) approved the committee’s selection process for the firm as project manager. NV5’s presentation highlighted the firm’s background in K–12 construction, with 11 Massachusetts projects completed and eight in progress.
The meeting was delayed a week because of a personnel change at NV5, with William Cunniff becoming project executive for the HES renovation. Stephanie Gilman, who remains the on-site project manager, described herself as a licensed architect with some 20 years’ experience, primarily in educational buildings. With the new team in place, the building committee unanimously approved NV5 as project manager.
“Our role,” said Gilman, referring to NV5, “is to chaperone the project through the [MSBA] process.” The MSBA is expected to reimburse Harvard for about 45 percent of the cost of the project.
Gilman explained that the MSBA requires every project to look at three options: renovation, renovation plus an addition to the existing building, and a completely new building. Subsequent discussion made clear that those three options created a very broad range of possible costs, with no way to be more specific until the process is further along.
Search for designer begins
As its next matter of business, the building committee turned to the request for services, much of which follows a template set by the MSBA. In the description of the HES project, the document referred to a potential construction budget of $20 million to $32 million.
Those figures moved Ken Swanton, who serves on the committee by virtue of his position as chairman of the Board of Selectmen, to comment, “You got my attention.”
“The dollars usually do,” Gilman replied. She explained that those amounts come from an MSBA formula based on the number of students expected to use the building, the square footage required per student, and a standard cost per square foot. Moreover, the amounts must cover all the required options, including a whole new building.
Committee member Ron Ostberg also questioned the cost figures, saying that he had done his own calculations based on his experience as an architect, coming up with a substantially lower figure. “These are not the numbers we should assume for costs,” he emphasized.
Eventually, however, the committee agreed that the numbers could serve as place holders for purposes of the RFS. And the larger amounts would have the added benefit of attracting the notice of potential applicants, representatives of NV5 pointed out.
A focus on goals
The RFS draft prepared by NV5 identified a number of major issues that a renovation project at HES would have to solve: a leaky roof, mold that has plagued the kindergarten wing for years, uneven heating and malfunctioning vents, and limited parking and poor traffic patterns. But beyond “fixes,” the document also identified community concerns for the project including educational excellence, affordability, and longevity.
Committee members, too, were setting a high standard for the project:
- Swanton emphasized that the impact on education and on taxes were key points that should be featured more prominently in the RFS.
- Ostberg urged the committee to “strive for the same level of [architectural] achievement as the library” and also to support a building designed for minimum energy use.
- Rick Maiore, looking ahead to future town meetings, said, “The goal is a design we can sell to the public.”
- HES Principal Sue Frederick said, “The goal is to focus on our educational mission.”
Enrollment a key factor
A key factor in all planning, Superintendent Linda Dwight reminded everyone, would be the number of students attending the school. Dwight said both she and the project’s Visioning Committee, which had discussed the draft RFS earlier, questioned the estimate that the building would have no more than 445 students from kindergarten through fifth grade. New residential construction in Devens will affect enrollment, Dwight said, “And the life of a building is long.”
School Committee Chairwoman SusanMary Redinger agreed, saying, “I’m not comfortable with that [445] number.” Although the current enrollment is between 435 and 440, Redinger pointed out that HES had 457 students not long ago. She said the MSBA itself had predicted higher enrollments in 20 years.
Enrollment figures would be “negotiable,” Gilman said, and need not be settled before issuing the RFS.
The committee voted without dissent to allow NV5 to issue the RFS as scheduled and go ahead with the search for an architect, a process expected to take the rest of 2016. The MSBA will have a major voice in selecting the architect.
