Renovate Auditorium, Build New Classrooms for Galvin Middle School

Out of the three options for a new Galvin Middle School, Wakefield has chosen its winner: Option two, which includes a renovated auditorium and gym, and a brand new classroom wing.

The vote, which selected the preferred basic footprint of the school , was necessary for the Galvin Middle School project to move ahead in the process. The architectural firm will take the preferred basic design footprint and build a detailed schematic design plan, which will then be submitted to the MSBA for final approval in March.

More about the selected option
The approved basic school design seeks to renovate the current Galvin Middle School auditorium and gymnasium, two elements of the current school that the MSBA may not approve funding for in a brand-new school. According to the project managment team Joslin, Lesser and Associations, which has worked on many similar projects in in the state, the MSBA currently favors building schools with dual purpose auditoriums, such as a "cafetorium" (a cafeteria-auditorium).

However, members of the community have spoken up in favor of preserving the full auditorium, as it is often used for important community-wide events. But even renovating the auditorium would affect the important community space - to bring the auditorium up to current fire and public safety standards, a renovated auditorium would only have 600 seats, as opposed to the current capacity of 900 seats.

But the preferred option doesn't just renovate the school - it does include new construction. In the selected design option, an entirely new "academic wing," would be built, which would expand classroom size and seek to establish the district's educational, team-oriented learning goals.

Other highlights of the project include maximizing open space with a limited building footprint, reorienting the entrace of the school away from main street, and two entrances: One for the community and one for students.

Disruption to Students
The selected design option does include more disruption to students than the proposed new construction option, but the construction in either option would be finished by early 2016.

In the approved option, the academic wing is slated to be finished by 2014, at which time students will move into the new facility. The gym, auditorium and the rest of the building will be used as a "swing space," for much of the project. The school will be finished by January of 2016.

Initial cost estimate
Based on figures provided by two cost estimators and historical data compiled by the MSBA, the selected option comes with a price tag of $68.8 million. While that may seem high, it is actually the cheapest estimate out of the other options. The major renovation option, know as Option 1, was estimated at this time to cost $70.1 million, and the complete re-build, Option 2, was estimated at $75.5 million.

Jeffrey Luxemburg, project manager with Joslin, Lesser and Associates, cautioned that these initial cost estimates were merely to get a feel for the relative costs between the options, not numbers the community would be stuck with for the long haul.

"Depending on what mechanical systems are used, and what current market values are when it's time to build, these numbers will vary," he said. "What's important to note is the relative cost among these three options."

If the current price of $68.8 million does hold, Luxemburg estimated that the effect to Wakefield taxpayers, if the project is approved at town meeting, would be between $147-165 per year per the average $400k home in Wakefield.

Next Steps
The project management firm and the architectural firm, Tappe Associates, will now submit the approved plan design to the MSBA for their approval. The MSBA has six weeks to make a decision.

If approved, the two firms will then work on building out a more technical schematic design with a more detailed cost estimate that will be submitted to the MSBA in March of 2012.