Construction set to begin on K-3 elementary school in Marblehead

Posted by IronPlanet on Aug 16, 2012 1:41:00 AM

Children in Marblehead, Mass., will soon be attending classes in an all-new, state-of-the-art facility. Glover Elementary was recently torn down to make room for a brand new building. Earlier this month, demolition crews used backhoes, excavators and other construction equipment to take down two buildings that had housed K-3 education since 1916 and 1948, according to WickedLocal.com.

The $26 million project will see a new two-story structure being erected in place of the two outdated buildings that had been in use since 1916 and 1948, The Boston Globe reports.

"It's the right time to build a new school," Marblehead superintendent Greg Maass told the Globe. "It was becoming very difficult to find parts. We had to go on eBay sometimes and hunt around for them."

Maass was referring to equipment within the school that is outdated and breaking down due to old age, such as a boiler that was nearing its centennial birthday as well as failing electrical systems. The new building will be completely updated, and construction crews will install multiple bathrooms and a cafeteria. There was only one student bathroom in one of the former buildings, which was a major issue, and the school also lacked a cafeteria, so students had to eat lunch in their classrooms.

"This was one of the worst buildings in the state," Richard Nohelty, chairman of the Glover School Building Committee, explained to the news publication.

The new school will have 20 modern classrooms, five rooms for each grade level, inside the 79,000-square-foot building. There will be a new gymnasium, a cafeteria and a library as well as an elevator so the school is accessible to all students. Officials estimate that the construction of the new school will take approximately 18 months to complete, during which time the students of Glover Elementary will be sent to Eveleth (kindergarten and first grade) and the Village School (second and third grade).

Since this project will increase the number of parents and buses dropping kids off at school, officials plan to stagger start times to reduce congestion. By leaving a 15-minute gap between when transfer students and original students arrive, there will be less of an issue with too many cars trying to reach the school at once.

"We don't have any concerns. G&R, the general contractor, is working with Marblehead Police and Fire departments so that if there are any traffic impacts, they'll know in advance," senior project manager Doug Roberts of design company JCJ Architecture told WickedLocal.com. "But we don't expect traffic impacts."

Topics: Construction, Industry Headlines