NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Some walls have already gone up for the new Greylock School on Phelps Avenue. 

 

The School Building Committee was updated on the progress on Tuesday night by Todd Ashford, project manager with Collier's International, the city's owner's project manager.

 

"I would say, about 90 percent of foundations for the new building are complete, and they have started underground utilities in the new building as well," said Ashford. "They have started underground utilities in the new building as well. Closer to the, I guess it would be your northeast corner of the site, you can start to see that in the new building, a lot of conduit has been placed, a lot of structural fill has been placed ...

 

"The large firewall is also completed that separates the sort of gym and cafeteria area from some of the classrooms, to give you an idea of that. So, quite a bit of the of concrete work has been completed in the last month, and we expect steel to get kicked off in the next couple of weeks."

 

Ashford said the old school has been completely removed and disposed of, while stockpiles of soil and fill have been placed at the site. 

 

Mayor Jennifer Macksey said she had given permission for contractor Fontaine Bros. to work on Saturdays from 7 to 1 after checking with the Greylock Club. 

 

"Most of their events start at 1o'clock on Saturday, so they had no complaints or no problems with that," she said. "We're very sensitive to not interfering with them on the weekend, because that's their busiest time."

 

Ashford said there is less site work that what had been happening over the last couple months, when there were 26 to 32 workers and concrete trucks coming daily. The crane is still onsite and he anticipated the final 10 to 15 percent of foundations to be completed in the next week or so. 

 

"Then they will prepare for steel delivery and erection over the next few weeks," he said. "It's going to be probably a, I think, we figured a six to eight week steel erection cycle, so that would be the majority of the work over the next two months."

 

There were two change orders that the committee approved, one for an increase in the cost of debris removal at $363,875. That had been originally approved for $217,210 based on $362 a ton, but the actual weight was almost 400 tons more than expected at 1,005. 

 

The disposal was done by from American Environmental Lab Inc., which shipped the waste to WM Turnkey Landfill in Rochester, N.H. 

 

The second change order was for $66,410.03 for work associated with a water main replacement and extensions, and change in pipe material

 

"It is an existing pipe that was on property, and it was not called to be replaced, but based on the age of the pipe, the depth of the pipe, it was replaced," said Tim Alix of Collier's. 

 

The mayor said the thought was to replace the water main while the road was open so the new driveway didn't have to be ripped up if there was a leak. 

 

Alix also said there will be some amendments to the project funding agreement with the Massachusetts School Building Authority based on actural numbers versus estimates and some additional geotechnical work. 

 

"The idea is to keep all the funds within the project. If we had a line item from construction, we had additional funds that, because the bids came in a little low, they would be added to our contingency, just to give us a little bit of wiggle room," he said. "So we'll be providing that update, hopefully at the next month's meeting."

 

In other business, Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio, the project designer, said he has been working with the district on furniture selection and that the meetings have been very productive. 

 

"We're meeting with faculty members, talking about their rooms and going through what kind of furniture we would typically provide, and if there are any special needs, special types of furniture that are required," he said. "We're learning any lessons that have been learned in the past, so that hopefully we're not repeating something that may have already been resolved since the last building project at Colegrove."

 

Saylor expected to seek approval for purchasing by late summer or fall to have delivery by next summer. The building is anticipated to open for fall 2027. 

 

Ashford also provided some numbers that had been requested to see the project's economic impact. 

 

He said about 15 percent of Fontaine's labor is staying in the city during the week, or about 1,500 hours a week. 

 

"If you want to divide that by the 30 or so workers on site staying within the city during the week, eating, drinking, staying in a hotel, just contributing back to the economic part of the city," he said. "I just thought it was worth knowing that, this isn't even, to be honest with you, really the busy time for the site. 

 

"Roughly 30-35 people on site is busy, but it will get much busier as the winter approaches, and we have a building to work in. So I anticipate that number to climb a little bit, but I just thought it was worth noting."

 

The next meetings will be on July 21 and Aug. 18, both at City Hall in Conference Room 202.