Friday, March 27, 2020

March 27

Construction is underway. Just as Midway began excavating, Governor Inslee closed all non-essential operations in the state. We were worried, but learned yesterday that our construction project is considered "essential"! This means J&R can go ahead as long as they are observing social distancing protocols (they are). Here are some photos of the site taken this morning.

J&R Site Offices

 Installation of the new temporary front entrance


 Locker Room demolition and electrical work begins

 Storage trailer

Sare Electrical- Our Electrical Contractor

We're planning to bring back some additional square footage in the form of an additional classroom and increased space for our LifeSkills classroom as well as theater seats in the Commons, installation of the outdoor classroom and much more. It will be awhile before you'll be able to see a lot of work on the exterior of the building, but things are happening. To the extent that I'm able, I'll post photos here as this blog is updated.

Friday, March 20, 2020

March 20 Update

I've had some questions from our community and realized that I haven't updated this blog in awhile. Because our bid came back so positive, we've been examining some of the features that the design team removed from the bid to keep costs low. We're awaiting firm estimates, but it appears that we'll be able to add most, if not all of them back into the project- including a classroom that was removed and expanding the LifeSkills room so that it won't be so crowded. Other features that may return to the project include upgrades to the gym mezzanine, engineered stairs to the shop mezzanines, refinishing the gym floor to include new graphics, retractable, theater-style seating in the commons, upgraded ceiling treatment in the Spirit Hall, repairs to the parking lot, restoration of the tennis courts, fully-installed outdoor classroom, and full landscaping.

Jones & Roberts (J&R) have begun mobilizing their equipment including their office trailer to the THS site. Surveyors have marked the location of the new path from the ball field parking lot to the school. The project remains on schedule with phase one already underway. The construction camera is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRDEwrgBqN0. Because no one is in school for a few weeks, construction fencing isn't necessary. J&R have elected to wait to install that until we return to school. The new front door has been delivered and will be installed soon. J&R were in the building today looking at the locker rooms in preparation for demolition.

J&R has given us no indication that the COVID-19 event will impact the project in the near term, but we're all working in a fluid environment. Fortunately, we've not had much rain so some of the days built into the project for rain won't need to be used (yet).

As always, if you have questions about the project, be sure to give me a call or send me an email. I appreciate those in our community that have done so.

Tuesday, March 3, 2020

March 3 Update

Our project continues on schedule. We're expecting our contractors,  Jones and Roberts, to locate their office trailers on site today and to begin installing fencing on Thursday. First steps will be to install the new front door and to create a pathway from the Baseball parking lot to the school. This path will allow students, staff and visitors to access the school without having to walk in the parking lot.

Value Engineering removed several features of the community's design in order to bring the project in under budget. Our bids were very competitive and we now find that we may be able to restore some of those features. Some of those include landscaping, refinishing the gym floor, retractable theater seating in the Commons and others. Those features that were removed are receiving new cost estimates and recommendations will be taken to the Board in the coming months.

Staff and students at THS have been working hard to pack up and get ready for construction. Mr. Huffman and the staff meet regularly to address the many details associated with sharing a school with a construction project. Everyone is very excited and looking forward to seeing the new school take shape.

Remember, you can view the construction site in real time by going to our construction cam.