SOUTHWICK – The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional school building project is moving forward this summer, if only on paper.
Last week Project Manager Kurt Lavaway met with the school committee and said there is much work being done on phase two of the project, which includes more details than phase one.
“This is the design development through construction phase,” said Lavaway.
Superintendent Dr. John Barry said there was a conference call last week with the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA) to discuss what needs to be done now.
“There are things the Owner’s Project Manager needed to do, we need to do, and the MSBA needs to do,” said Barry.
Among those things is documentation about payment,
Barry said right now the schematic design, which was the preliminary design presented last fall, is being fine-tuned.
“We’ve been meeting on specific issues, mostly centered on the grade 7-12 building,” said Barry. “We’re looking more closely at the building, including office space, tech space, music rooms, and things like that.”
Barry said the exterior of that building has also been changed from its original design.
“The front entrance of the high school has been squared-off and I think it’s a big improvement,” he said.
The design will continue through December of this year. Hopefully, said Barry, the construction phase will soon follow.
“We’re working on construction phasing to figure out how to get it so all three schools will start in 2015,” said Lavaway.
Barry said, without getting into specifics, that they are looking at utilizing the Granville Village School during construction.
Barry said there would be updates on the project at the next school committee meeting in August.
The project, which includes upgrades, renovations and additions to Woodland Elementary School, Powder Mill Middle School and Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional High School, has a total price tag of $69.1 million.
The MSBA will reimburse the town 60 percent of the cost. The project includes $40.8 million for work at the combined middle/high school, $9.8 million for Woodland Elementary School, and $18.5 million for Powder Mill Middle School.
The addition/renovation at the combined middle and high school includes updating and renovating all existing space and adding science and general purpose classrooms for the high school and middle school. Woodland work includes updating code requirements, building systems, building interiors and finishes. At Powder Mill, repairs and upgrades are planned for the building systems, envelope, interior and code requirements.
