Monday, February 24, 7:30am, Hartwell Multipurpose Room
The SBC will be meeting Monday morning from 7:30am – 8:00am in the Hartwell Multipurpose Room. In preparation for upcoming meetings with the Board of Selectmen and the Finance Committee, the SBC will review the $3.5M list of items that had to be cut in order to keep the project on budget, begin prioritizing the list, and discuss possible funding mechanisms.
Wed., February 26, 7:00pm, Hartwell Multipurpose Room
The SBC will hold its regular meeting and continue the above conversation.
“We choose to go to the Moon! …We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard; because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one we intend to win …”
“As a Town, we always knew that developing a Lincoln School project would be complicated and require a careful cost/benefit analysis of criteria and options.“ — SBC blog post, December 2017
There’s no sugar-coating this: Last night’s School Building Committee (SBC) meeting was rough. Most of the construction bids are in and we had to vote to remove $3.5M from the project in order to keep us on time and on budget — REALLY?!?! So how did we get here, what did we have to cut, and what comes next?
Over two years ago, we got our first cost estimates for a set of project concepts based on our educational and sustainability ideals — they were much higher than we had hoped and the long, hard work of shaping and approving our school project began. Since June 2018, when we approved concept “L3” with a budget of $93.9M, we have had 4 sets of cost estimates and 3 rounds of value engineering. When making these painful decisions, we’ve relied on our community’s 5 core project values to guide our decisions about what we could cut. When we eliminated a final $1.1M at the end of November, we believed we had done everything we needed to do to get favorable bids from all the subcontractors involved in the project. The marketplace just told us otherwise.
Why are the bids high when we just did Value Engineering 2 months ago?
Our Construction Manager, Consigli, reminded us that this is a complicated renovation project which is harder to execute than new construction.
There are many new construction projects in the marketplace — other schools, housing, commercial, etc. — these projects are easier to estimate because there are fewer unknowns and there is less risk assumed by the contractors. As a result, in a white-hot construction market, contractors are more interested in these “clean” projects.
Annual escalation rates jumped from 5-6% in 2019 to 8% in the last two months.
There was a lower-than-expected response from our pre-qualified bidders. Only about half of the subcontractors ended up submitting a bid.
“Trade” contractors (e.g. roofing, plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems) had a hard bid deadline of January 29th. Trade bids are regulated by state laws that fix the scope of the work and preclude us from negotiating.
“Non-trade” contractors (e.g. steel, drywall, landscaping) are still able to submit bids for another couple of weeks. Consigli manages these bids.
We are committed to a project that is on time and on budget. The Committee made the hard decisions we needed to last night to cut what was necessary in order to close the gap, stay on budget, and keep us on schedule.
What did we have to cut? Unlike our other Value Engineering exercises, the size of the bid gap left the SBC with little discretion about what to remove. We had to make cuts in items that impact our project values such as: auditorium renovations/theatrical rigging; design features that admit and control natural light; a 3/4 reduction in the furniture, fixtures, equipment, technology budget; elimination of walkway and bike paths, courtyards; a 50% reduction of playground equipment, and; planting new trees.
The good news is that we protected key educational elements and the building remains net zero.
Next Steps:
Consigli will provide a breakdown of construction timing for each item that was value engineered/eliminated to help the SBC understand which decisions can/cannot be reconsidered if there are savings in other areas.
After school vacation week, the SBC will meet with the Finance Committee to see if there are any funding options, with minimal or no impact on the town budget, for funding core elements that affect long-term value and cannot be added after the project is complete. Any such funding decisions would require a Town Meeting vote.
Since the warrant for the Annual Town Meeting has closed, a Special Town Meeting (within the Annual Town Meeting) would need to be called for any project-related appropriations. The SBC voted to ask the School Committee to ask the Board of Selectmen to consider authorizing a STM if such a meeting is requested.
Upcoming meetings:
February 24th — School Committee Meeting, 8:00am; Board of Selectmen Meeting 6:30pm
February 25th — Finance Committee Meeting, 6:30pm
February 26th — School Building Committee Meeting, 7:00pm
…January 29th is a milestone day for the project! It is the day the trade bids will be opened, a key step in finalizing the “guaranteed maximum price” (GMP). Below is an overview of the project schedule.
At the February 5th SBC meeting, the project team will seek approval to award some or all of the trade contracts, which will allow the trade contractors to work on shop drawings, coordinate with Consigli, etc.
Project Progress
The temporary school now has electricity and safety testing has been completed.
The temporary school will be substantially complete by the end of January.
Paving of the temporary parking lot will be done in the spring.
The construction fencing around the temporary school will remain in place until the spring.
Next SBC Meetings
Wednesday, February 5th, 7:00pm, Hartwell Multipurpose Room
Wednesday, February 26th, 7:00pm, Hartwell Multipurpose Room
Note: The next SBC blog post will come out on February 2nd.
Reminder…the 4th of July fireworks display is cancelled for the next several years as the building project is completed and the playing fields restored. All the other fabulous July 4th activities will still take place!
The project has nearly completed the permitting process with both the Conservation Commission and the Planning Board.
The SBC voted to approve a list of over 100 companies to be in the pool of pre-qualified sub-trades. The construction bid documents will be released on December 18th and bids are due on January 29th.
Contract negotiations with SunPower for a Power Purchase Agreement (PPA) continue — many thanks to the PPA sub group that has been working hard on the details!
Due to the snow, the paving of the temporary parking lot is being postponed until the spring.
2020 SBC Meeting Dates: All meetings will be held in the Hartwell multipurpose room.
Wednesday, January 8th, 7:00pm
Wednesday, February 5th, 7:00pm
Wednesday, February 26th, 7:00pm
Until the New Year! The Outreach team is taking a break for the rest of the year and will start up again with a post on Sunday, January 5, 2020. We wish everyone a safe, healthy, relaxing, joyous holiday season and all the best in the New Year!
…we gathered for the Special Town Meeting to approve the funding for the school project! A year later, the final bid documents are almost ready and the temporary home of our K-4 students is being completed. Our faculty is already preparing for the move which will take place when the school year is over in June. Here’s a glimpse inside the temporary school (photos courtesy of Principal Sarah Collmer):
The photos show a typical classroom, a connecting hallway, the view from what will become Principal Collmer’s office, and a view into her office.
Next SBC Meeting:
Wednesday, December 4th, 7:00pm, Hartwell multipurpose room. Click here for the agenda.
From the Superintendent — Construction activities on the Ballfield Road campus October 30 through November 15:
NEW – A Temporary Parking Lot is being developed
All of the modular trailers are now set in place and seaming the classrooms together is being completed. A corridor connecting two sections of the building is being constructed and the roofs are being refurbished. Each of the trailers will be anchored to the foundation.
Work has begun to create a temporary parking lot that will serve the temporary K-4 school for the 2021 and 2022 school years. Once the project is complete and the modular trailers have been removed, the parking lot will also be removed and the center field will be restored. Paving of the parking lot is scheduled to take place on November 12th.
Please be aware that there may be increases in truck traffic as construction debris related to the setting of the trailers is removed from the site along with actions being taken associated with creating the parking lot.
What you won’t see is all of the work that is taking place to prepare the interior of the modular classrooms for use. Over the next couple of months, the interior of the temporary building will be renovated and refurbished creating a “new school” for our use in August 2020.
Next SBC Meeting: THURSDAY, November 14th, 7:00pm, Hartwell multipurpose room.
The 90% Construction Documents (90%CDs) were submitted for a final round of cost estimates on October 15th, and the estimates will be presented to the SBC at its November 14th meeting. This is the last round of estimates before the bid documents are finalized in December.
Below is an outline of the project schedule and milestones. The entire Daedalus presentation can be found here.
Saturday, November 2nd, 9:00am: Special Town Meeting & State of the Town Meeting, Lincoln School Auditorium. The SBC will present a project update.
