Moving Forward With The Fuller School Project

FRAMINGHAM, MA- Riding the wave of excitement that came from last week's yes vote for the Fuller School Project, the school building committee was ready to get the ball rolling at Monday night's meeting.

The project has entered into the design and development phase which will last until about May of this year. Throughout this phase, the sketches and designs will be placed under a microscope and hammered with details. Program manager Joel Seeley explained how the architects will transform the rough plans into something more concrete. "They will take the concept plans and site plans and elevations that you've seen today, and really turn them into an architectural and engineering building and site," he said.

School Building Committee member Noval Alexander explained this phase as getting into the nitty gritty. "This is when we go room by room to look at what it needs and what we can do," he said. An educational working group made up of top administrators in the district, some members of the School Building Committee, the project manager and key staff and teachers from the Fuller school will work to help guide the project on what the school needs.

At Monday's meeting the committee unanimously approved to amend the designer's contract to incorporate work for the rest of the Fuller project, costing $6.8 million. They also unanimously approved amending the Owners Project Manager's contract to include the rest of the Fuller Project work ahead, costing $2.3 million. Both big ticket fees were prearranged in the initial project plans, but since the project was officially approved the amendments made the payments to the designer and project manager for their work in its entirety official.

The committee also dove head first into saving the school money. Mass Save, a collaborative of Massachusetts energy companies, offered the school a discount incentive program that offers the city a rebate on the energy efficiency of the school. That rebate is offered only if the school agrees to work with Mass Save's program to help create an energy efficient building. Program manager Seeley pointed out that the initial designs for the new Fuller school are already environmentally conscious, so the partnership would be no trouble and could save the school and city money. The committee unanimously voted Monday night to begin the relationship with Mass Save.

The Fuller vote was also recognized as a historical vote for the city by the historic society. Committee member Scott Wadland announced during the meeting that the 'Yes for Fuller' campaign signs will be given to the historic society as artifacts featuring the School Building Committee members' signatures.

Photo Credit: Samantha Mercado/Patch