NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The $65 million Greylock School Project has moved into construction phase, where it will stay for the next 18 months or so. 

 

Work has already started, as abatement of asbestos and lead paint at the old school are underway and trees and playground equipment removed for site preparation by general contractor Fontaine Bros.

 

"They hit the ground running," Jesse Saylor of TSKP Studio told the School Building Committee on Tuesday. "Fontaine's doing a nice job looking ahead and forecasting and ... we expect to get their schedule upcoming, as well as their breakdown of schedule of values, which is important because the [Massachusetts School Building Authority] reimburses the city based on that."

 

Timothy Alix of Collier's International, the owner's project manager, said the school construction will come in about $51 million and change.

 

"Our total budget is $65.3 million. We've processed invoices for roughly $4.4 million of that, we believe that roughly $4.2 [million] would be eligible for reimbursement, and then, based on the city's reimbursement rate, we expect a reimbursement of $3.4 [million]," Alix said. "It's right where we expected. Again, the biggest number here will be this construction line item, and we'll start seeing some invoices coming in as Fontaine builds out their schedule of values."

 

Saylor offered a presentation on the differences between vertical and horizontal geothermal systems, with the committee finally committing to horizontal. The savings are estimated at about $225,000; the project is expected to receive about $2.4 million in federal funds toward the alternative energy option. 

 

Committee members had been wary of the use of geothermal, which is being pushed by the state, but felt better after Tuesday's overview and voted unanimously to go with a horizontal system under the parking lot.