The elementary school building project is still on budget, but it has fallen about three weeks behind schedule. The School Building Committee heard that mix of good and bad news at its meeting last Thursday, Feb. 20. Building committee Chair SusanMary Redinger gave the School Committee the update Monday.
Project director Tom Murphy blamed unforeseen site conditions—contaminated soil and a batch of buried boulders that slowed foundation work—for the lagging schedule. Those problems cost time last summer and fall that Murphy initially predicted would be made up later, but has not been. And weather issues, he said, have delayed the concrete pours, which were supposed to be completed by the end of January but were still underway this week. Murphy said he had expected the building to be weather-tight by now, with more trade crews able to work on the site.
Phil Conroy, the construction project manager, told the building committee that framing work has continued on both interior and exterior walls, even while the concrete pours went on in other parts of the building. He said roofing is scheduled to begin next week, weather permitting.
Winter conditions funds are used up
Another issue in the delay, both Redinger and Murphy said, has been National Grid. The natural gas connection was completed last month, finally allowing crews to stop using diesel-fueled generators to keep the tarped areas warm enough for concrete work. But National Grid is only now moving ahead on connecting electric power at the site.
The reliance on diesel fuel for most of the winter has added to costs, Murphy told the building committee, with the result that the project has run through all its contingency funds for winter conditions. Murphy said the project will need to draw on the contingency fund designated for utilities to stay within budget. He warned, “It’s going to be close on those costs.”
Building committee member Gus Fraser expressed surprise that the winter conditions contingency fund has been exhausted in such a mild winter. But Murphy has mentioned in previous meetings that every day of rain or snow, even if it’s not a major storm, requires time to clean up and dry out the work site, which adds to costs.
“Don’t be too optimistic with us,” committee member Ron Ostberg told Murphy. “We’re adults and we’re responsible for this budget. Be absolutely as realistic with us as possible.”
Furniture, technology, and solar panels
In other matters, the committee discussed estimates for design and procurement consulting fees on purchases of furniture and technology for the new school. The current estimate for the fees is about $107,000, for which the building committee approved payment. Those fees were not included in the scope of the contract with the architectural firm Arrowstreet, Murphy said, but had a separate budget of about $48,000. The additional $59,000 will come out of the owner’s contingency fund—that is, an amount reserved for additions to the project’s scope by the owner, in this case the town acting through the building committee.
With work about to begin on the building’s roof, committee member David Fay brought up the need to coordinate with the prospective solar panel supplier, Solect Energy. Solect has installed photovoltaic solar arrays on several area schools, including ones in Lunenburg, Tewksbury, and Woburn. Redinger pointed out the importance of moving quickly, while the state’s limited number of power purchase agreements (PPAs) remains available. “We want to jump on this,” she said, “because there are other schools that want to get into the queue.”
