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SPENCER/EAST BROOKFIELD – During its meeting just prior to school opening, the David Prouty High School Building Committee talked about making the ongoing work as seamless as possible as they begin phase two.
Members viewed visuals of the new gym, classrooms, signage, and more of the completed sections of phase one.
Moving on with renovations, Nick Pimentel of Colliers (OPM) said it is not unusual for unexpected things to occur with large projects. For example, “structural complications” in the “A” building they faced included walls that could not be salvaged and a much larger excavation required to stabilize footings.
To modify the design and reinforcement of the large footings, the board later approved a change order not to exceed $16,106.
At the time of the meeting, district leaders were finalizing the logistics of bus patterns, with member Ralph Hicks expressing concerns.
Hicks said he is worried about teenage drivers going around the S curve into the parking lot and whether stop signs would slow traffic to avoid potential accidents with buses.
He said he was also concerned about granite blocks over at the Pre-K area and whether small children would climb on them and get hurt.
Architect Kristian Whitsett said he had talked to district administrators about “at least easing some of the edges” on the granite blocks.
He also said the plan right now is to keep traffic to the north as much as possible.
These and other issues will be looked at when the DPHS Building Committee takes a site tour on Sept. 18 at 5 p.m., prior to its meeting.
In other matters, Whitsett spoke on the process to test air leaks in the building, saying the results were far better than expected. He called it a “testament to Fontaine’s quality of construction.”
Measured in cubic feet per minute per the square foot of the building envelope, the project’s result was .007. A typical leaky building would have a result of .60.
Whitsett said a very high standard range would be .08 to .11.
Board chair Mike Ethier remarked this is an “unbelievable score,” while member Mark Carpentier noted the result is even better than some residential projects.
Superintendent Paul Haughey and others noted that there is a lot of interest by community members to walk through the new building. Members discussed the issues of posting the event should members of other boards like Selectmen or Finance Committee (constituting a quorum) participate.
The superintendent asked that the first two weeks of September be devoted to letting students and staff adjust to their new surroundings and then schedule a walk through, possibly in conjunction with an open house, later in the month.
