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A crew from J.H. Maxymillian pours a concrete foundation for the new multipurpose building at Mount Greylock on Monday.

Mount Greylock's Multipurpose Building Project Underway

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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Construction of the building will allow the regional district's administrators to move out of the temporary trailers left over from the high and middle school building project. 
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Less than two months after the Mount Greylock Regional School Committee approved the construction of a multipurpose building on the middle-high school campus, construction is well underway.
 
On Monday morning, general contractor David J. Tierney of Pittsfield joined Superintendent Kimberley Grady to watch the pouring of the foundation for the building, which will house the district's central administrative offices, allow storage for Mount Greylock's facilities department and provide public restrooms for the school's athletic fields.
 
Tierney said weather has so far not delayed the $2.5 million project.
 
"There's about 6 to 8 inches of frost in the ground," he said. "That big excavator right there ripped right through it. Absolutely not a problem."
 
The excavated dirt is piled up around the perimeter of the building and covered by tarp.
 
"When it comes time to backfill, we'll scrape any frost off the mound, and they'll have regular dirt underneath to backfill," Tierney added."
 
The building itself — what you will see above grade when it is finished — is being fabricated off site.
 
"We're going to get the parts and pieces," Tierney said. "Right now, we're in the approval stages going back and forth on plans, making sure everything fits.
 
"But Maxymillian, our site contractor, will keep going. They'll stay right here, get the water in, get the sewer in, start getting some of our utilities."
 
The plan right now is to have the building move-in ready by August, in time to get Grady and her staff out of their long-term temporary quarters — construction trailers left from the $64 million school building project — in time for the 2020-21 academic year.
 
"It's a great time a year to have a job," Tierney said. "It's great to be here in Williamstown, a nice local job. Everybody's from right around here. A lot of the people working on it are from right around here, and we've got local subcontractors."

Tags: central office,   construction,   MGRSD,   

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Williamstown Fire Committee Talks Station Project Cuts, Truck Replacement

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Prudential Committee on Wednesday signed off on more than $1 million in cost cutting measures for the planned Main Street fire station.
 
Some of the "value engineering" changes are cosmetic, while at least one pushes off a planned expense into the future.
 
The committee, which oversees the Fire District, also made plans to hold meetings over the next two Wednesdays to finalize its fiscal year 2025 budget request and other warrant articles for the May 28 annual district meeting. One of those warrant articles could include a request for a new mini rescue truck.
 
The value engineering changes to the building project originated with the district's Building Committee, which asked the Prudential Committee to review and sign off.
 
In all, the cuts approved on Wednesday are estimated to trim $1.135 million off the project's price tag.
 
The biggest ticket items included $250,000 to simplify the exterior masonry, $200,000 to eliminate a side yard shed, $150,000 to switch from a metal roof to asphalt shingles and $75,000 to "white box" certain areas on the second floor of the planned building.
 
The white boxing means the interior spaces will be built but not finished. So instead of dividing a large space into six bunk rooms and installing two restrooms on the second floor, that space will be left empty and unframed for now.
 
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