High School Master Plan Shows Options

The Office of Michael Rosenfeld in Acton has presented the Concord-Carlisle Building Committee with several options for modernizing the Walden Street facility.

The new building committee, charged with overseeing the project, is working with the Massachusetts School Building Authority to plan the scope of the work. The MSBA replaced the former School Building Assistance Bureau that was swamped with requests for reimbursement from dozens of towns for their schools.

The new MSBA grew out of the old bureau after a moratorium on funding new projects. Concord approved the Willard School project during the moratorium and thus did not receive any reimbursement.

Not so with the high school. Town Meeting approved $1.5 million for a feasibility study, but the master plan comes first, according to a OMR staffer.

The architectural company presented nine options, and gave the pluses and minuses of each. The committee will meet again with the MSBA on Aug. 23, said Superintendent Diana Rigby.

The option "encouraged by the MSBA," the report stated, includes an "economical approach" that maintains all of the existing one story building, rearranging the current spaes. Option A calls for a "small addition to provide all of the required space int he proposed program."

The option includes a stand-alone athletic center on the site to "fulfill the athletic program and community needs. The option is dubbed "full renovation, minor addition."

A lower cost option is a "basic repair" that does not provide a long term solution and "will not meet current programmatic needs.

"Sprawling building issues would not be resolved," the master plan stated.

From there, the report shows more expensive and extensive renovations to the building, including a two and three-story classroom wing, relocating the main entrance, a free-standing gym and performance building, and other aspects.

For instance, Option E: Major Additions/Minor Renovations, "retains only the upper gym and building A." In this option, the H, S, L and I buildings are demolished and the lower gymn is removed and replaced with a stand-alone athletic center. A new two story academic wingis built in place of the existing cafeteria."

OMR likes this, in part, because it provides a "more compact" structure.

There is an option for a new building with a new arts building and student support wing.

"The two story library is removed and a new three-story academic wing with dining and information commons is constructed in the courtyards between buioldings H, A and the cafeteria."

The report stresses that the options are "approaches, not designs; and "each is working towards optimizing the value, phasing, program, integration and sustainability."

The "preferred alternative" involves stacking STEM (science, technology and math) spaces on the second and third floors; having a conference room for community use at the front lobby andspace adjacent to the auditorium to have operable walls on both sides allowing it to serve as an auxiliary lobby space for functions."

The preferred option proposes a new three-story addition.

"This new addition maximizes north and south solar exposure while providing views to the exterior from all classroooms." It includes a skylight for the length of the three-story addition.

A "conceptual project cost" was done by D.G. Jones International, Inc. for the preferred option. The total is estimated at $108 million. The building construction cost including site work and construction is an estimated $83 million, including contingencies; while the total of $108 million includes soft costs such as fees, equipment, and furniture.

These costs are a bit below the cost of a new school, which is estimated at $111 million, $85.4 million in construction.

OMR provided a note saying the conceptual costs are based on a second-quarter 2012 start and "do not account for fluctuations in market conditions."

The master plan options are at www.cchsbuilding.org, the website created for the project and the committee's work.