Wednesday, April 10, 2019

April 10 Update

There has been a lot of activity on the project since my last post. The Design Committee has been meeting weekly and working with Dowa-IBI on creating designs for the school. The committee has also been providing input on design issues such as traffic and parking, and circulation within the building. When they last met, they asked the architects to develop two designs and get some high-level cost estimates for the committee to consider at their next meeting. Here are the two designs they selected:

Option 2

Option 6 
Both designs incorporate the existing gym and shop spaces. These would be modernized. In option 6, the area that is currently the commons would be remodeled to serve as library (Learning Commons) and classroom space. 

Dowa-IBI's team is expected to report back on high-level cost estimates to help the committee make a selection between these two designs for development.

Pre-Design Activities: Survey field work is complete and a final report is expected this week. Same report for Geotechnical review of the site. Our natural resources report is expected in the next 2 weeks. Archeological review site visit is complete and a report is in process. Hazardous Materials field work  is approximately 80% complete. The remaining sampling should be complete in the next two weeks. (These are the people who look for asbestos, underground fuel tanks, PCBs, lead-based paint and the like.) Traffic survey is underway.

We've asked for our consultants to image the interior of our gym and shop walls to determine the configuration of the construction. They will also take core samples of the walls. We're expecting this testing to be done this week or next with reports to follow soon. We're also examining the existing building footings to ensure that they are capable of supporting the additional load of a pitched roof.

In consultation with Nichols Consulting, we've determined that portables will not be needed to house students during the project. We expect to be able to phase construction in such a way that temporary housing will not be required. This will save money that can be used in construction.

The next meeting of the Design Committee will be tomorrow, April 11 at 6 pm in the THS Library. All those interested are invited to attend. There will be no meeting on April 18 as Dowa-IBI will be developing the final schematic design. This design will be presented on April 25 at 6 pm in the THS Library. 

We continue to work to meet our design schedule so that we are ready to put our project "on the street" for bids in late September, 2019 and award the contract in early November. 

I've heard from a few tradespeople that they would like to be considered for work on this project. TSD is committed to involving as many local people as possible. We believe that tax dollars need to stay in our community and that our community members have a vested interest in the school being the best it can be. If you're interested, keep an eye out for Requests for Proposals in the Daily Journal of Commerce (Seattle) and on our website. All qualified local trades are encouraged to respond.