Architects are working on alternatives to bring down the latest estimated construction cost of the community center, where the schematic design is nearly complete.
ICON Architects’ estimator pegged the cost early this year at $24 million. More recently, ANSA Advisory, the owner’s project manager, took another look (along with ICON’s estimator), and their estimates are $1.9 million and $2.1 million above that figure.
Most of this is because the required subsurface earthwork will be more expensive than anticipated. The building itself is still on budget, so a set of “value-engineering” cuts in features won’t close the gap, explained ICON’s Ned Collier at the September 9 Select Board meeting.
Reconciling the latest price with the budget “is not insignificant but not insurmountable,” Collier said. Some savings will come from moving the LEAP portion of the building slightly to the north, where less digging into the hillside close to the main Hartwell Building will be needed. “That’s going to be a meaningful chunk to get us back on budget,” he said. ICON will also identify some changes in the design or materials used for things like polycarbonate translucent panels for canopies that can be added back once construction starts, if the budget allows.
“Nothing is being removed from the building programmatically,” Collier said, adding that the contingency fund of about $1.6 million will not be trimmed at this point.
Select Board member Kim Bodnar, who served on the School Building Committee, hoped to avoid any tradeoffs in replacement or maintenance value of certain components could be “kind of might be penny-wise and pound-foolish” — for example, replacing granite curbs at the school with asphalt, a tough decision that nevertheless had to be made.
When the $93 million school project was at this stage, the SBC made as many cuts as they could but ultimately decided to go back to the town for more money. In June 2020, voters approved moving an additional $829,000 from free cash to close that gap. Private donations also restored some items.
“Our goal is not to ask for more, but to keep things in reserve to add back if possible,” Collier said.
One possible area for savings is landscaping. Rather than do everything at once, the Community Center Building Committee could treat it as a “master plan” for completion in stages over time, CCBC Chair Sarah Chester said. The CCBC will hash out exactly what reductions to target to reconcile the budget.
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