In the teachers’ parking lot, storage containers on the east side of Holyoke JR/SR High remind the community that demolition has begun on the way to a full-fledged start on the BEST construction project on May 24.
— The Holyoke Enterprise | Johnson Publications
Prelim demolition provides quiet start to school construction
Demolition in the locker room and elevator areas, as well as weight room relocation, provided a quiet start to Holyoke School District’s Building Excellent Schools Today Project on Monday, May 10.
Ryan Smelker of the Artaic Group, serving as the owner’s rep for the district, attended the May 4 school board meeting to provide an update.
Smelker called it a quiet start since there’s still two more weeks of school remaining. The construction plan will go full bore Monday, May 24.
Looking at a move plan, Smelker said that between May 8-12, movers were to take stuff out of the locker room and wrestling room areas. If time allowed, they planned to vacate all the trophy cases in the front area of the high school, as well, to stay ahead of the construction crews.
Large storage containers have been set up on the east side of the school in the teachers’ parking lot. Items that will return to the building after construction will be stored in the containers. Meanwhile, the trash trucks have been filled repeatedly.
Superintendent Kyle Stumpf noted that the JH boys’ lockers that were purchased five years ago are the only sports lockers the district is planning to keep. The rest will be placed outside the building and will be available for the public to pick up on a first-come, first-served basis. The timeline for this is tentative at this point, but the district will get the word out.
No big changes were noted for the construction schedule, according to Smelker, who said he and Stumpf have been working more specifically on the project budget this past month.
From his last report, Smelker said construction costs have dropped to $3,869,729, which includes a $195,145 contingency from Howell/Wold. Additionally, there’s an owner’s contingency of $184,715.
Together, this amounts to about a 9.7% contingency, which Smelker said he feels comfortable with.
A site supervisor was to move to Holyoke this past weekend, and weekly on-site construction meetings were to start May 12.
Completely removed from the BEST project, Smelker noted that some concern for potential sagging of the foundation at the elementary school was addressed.
Wold Architects offered to do some structural drawings to correct that, for no more than $5,000. Once the drawings are done, the district can get bids for the work itself.
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