HANOVER – The feasibility phase of the new South Shore Tech building project remains under budget, it was reported during a joint virtual meeting of the SST School Committee and Building Committee on Wednesday, June 26.
“The plans are coming along [with very few changes],” Kevin Sullivan of the LeftField project management team said.
The schematic design, given the green light by the Massachusetts School Building Authority on April 26 is still expected to be complete and submitted to the MSBA by mid-August with a final report due Aug. 29.
“While the School Committee, typically, does not hold meetings in August, and will not have its July meeting until July 24, it is possible that the building committee might schedule a one-off meeting that isn’t a joint meeting,” said Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas J. Hickey. “It’s quite possible that, to get to that August deadline, the building committee might have to have an extra meeting here or there.”
Engineers for all areas of the building project: mechanical, electrical, site, civil, have been working together in building the package of information that’s going to go through three independent process bidders simultaneously.
But they are working independently at first, so that good checks can be made, Sullivan said.
Both DRA, the architects, and LeftField, the building project managers, each receive one.
The late July meetings of the building committee are important for cost and budget reviews.
“It’ll take about three weeks to get a draft, and once we see those three numbers, we get together – in this case, it might literally be in the same room – for a process called reconciliation, so that estimators could quiz each other [on project materials needed],” Sullivan said. “They try to go through and make sure they are seeing the same thing in the same place.”
The building committee will then inform the management team whether they are comfortable with the numbers.
“We all have to live with the numbers going forward,” Sullivan said. “For whatever reasons, you make these comparisons to other projects or what the towns can afford, you want us to reduce the price by accepting some of the alternatives, we can consider that at this time, or … keep them in our back pocket and shoot for this budget … and we have some ability to tighten the budget down the road.”
At this point there have not been many changes to the plans.
George Cooney of Cohasset asked how big a priority is the use of materials made in the USA and asked if it is a union job.
“You could buy a light switch for 19 cents or you could buy a real one and it’s 89 cents,” he said.
“To the best of our ability we are to specify American-made products in that regard,” Sullivan said. “There was a time when lot of steel did come from outside the United States … but ore may come from the United States and get processed in Canada, so where does it really come from?”
While there is the provision to use American-made materials where possible, it’s not a restriction, Sullivan said.
“It’s not literally a union job, but all public works jobs in Massachusetts have to pay prevailing wages,” he continued. “Those prevailing wages are set by the state and they’re generally in accordance with union wages.”
Cooney asked if that restricts whether students can be on the job site.
“There are restrictions in general in regard to students, or the school, doing some of the work,” Sullivan replied. “We want students to be able to do things … but whether the students could literally work with Suffolk Construction, that’s generally not allowed.”
If a student were to get hired by the firm to work as a co-op during the summer, it might be possible, according to Sullivan, but during school they can’t provide free labor to the contractor, Suffolk Construction, as students, even if they are qualified. But he suggested some things could be left incomplete while obtaining a certification of occupancy, leaving those items for students to work on, having been left as instructional opportunities.
Hickey suggested that furnishing items such as storage blocks could be left for students to work on, or landscaping projects, as a learning experience.
“They’ll also see what the prevailing wage could do for you,” Cooney said.
Hickey did say that, even with the 99-space parking option with an exit onto Main Street, the project’s site costs will go beyond the amount reimbursable from MSBA.
But an educated decision on it can be made later in the process.
“If it’s not reimbursable, it’s a decision the district can to 10 years from now,” he said, indicating some non-crucial amenities like that could wait.
After the building committee meeting adjourned, the School Committee portion of the session heard the monthly treasurer’s report and the payment of bills and payroll.