York High School

“Facility Project Update”

March 28, 2013

PRESS RELEASE

The YHS renovation and expansion project continues to move forward. We are still on target to be done by November.

The Fine Arts addition to the existing auditorium continues to progress nicely. Roofing will be complete soon. Electrical and mechanical work is ongoing. The brick veneer will continue to be installed throughout April. Some of it is already installed on the west side of the new structure.

The gymnasium addition is picking up momentum. Stair walls continue to be poured and waterproofed. Backfill and footings work has been underway for a while and will continue for a little bit longer. During the month of April, you will begin see the beginning stages of the gym walls being installed, which will really change the landscape on campus. Mechanical and electrical underground work will carry on as well.  

The south canopy main entrance is framed in and metal stud framing will continue throughout April. The district storage and administrative facility on the east side of campus will see its cabinetry and painting work finished up over the next few weeks.

As far as the interior remodel goes, a few floor coverings and plumbing fixtures will be installed in April. Painting will continue as well. Lots of electrical and mechanical work is still being done throughout the building too. The majority of new flooring will go in over the summer.

Kitchen and gym commons work will hit full speed in May. The new parking lot by the south entrance is scheduled to begin within the next six weeks.

It will be a very busy spring and summer but Kingery Construction representatives continue to inform us that we are on target for all new construction, to include the new gym, to be done by August 15^th.

Once the new school year begins on August 20^th; there will continue to be exterior work, minor interior work, and less intrusive projects that will keep workers busy until November.

Mike Lucas               mike.lucas@yorkdukes.org        402-366-6491        402-362-6655 ext. 4

The facility project at York High School continues to go well.

·         As of February 6^th, workers began to erect the canopy at the south entrance.

·         The fine arts addition should be 100% fully closed in within a month.

·         The district storage/office facility should be completed by April 1st.

·         By the end of March, work will begin on the new gym as well.

The main gym floor of the new gym will be 90 feet long just like our existing high school court.

·         Additional classroom renovations are also scheduled for later this spring.

·         Our students and staff have done a marvelous job of dealing with the noise, mess, and congestion on site.

•  The Fine Arts addition that attaches to the existing auditorium is progressing on schedule as masonry walls are being formed.

• The district storage and central office facility is also being erected at the present time

• Concrete and driveway work has been done on the east side of campus to connect the storage/office/gym area to Delaware Avenue

• Extensive renovation on the inside in the old band and vocal rooms continues to take place as it is being remodeled into the new building office area

• The new gym will begin to take shape after the first of the year

The YHS renovation and expansion project continues to move forward. We are still on target to be done by December 2013.

During October there was a lot of dirt work done for the Fine Arts addition, storage/admin office, and gymnasium areas. On the Fine Arts addition on the west side, crews have been replacing soils in order to meet compaction requirements for concrete footings and have now begun to install the lower footings and poured concrete walls to support the new masonry structure.

Sanitary sewer, storm sewer, water main, and electrical/communication main feeders continue to be installed all over campus. On the interior, work crews continue to transform the former band and choir rooms into the new high school office complex.

During November, concrete footings and walls will continue to be poured for the Fine Arts addition to support the masonry walls that are scheduled to begin before Thanksgiving. Over-excavation work will continue at the new gym area as well. On/about November 15^th the new central storage/district office building is scheduled to arrive and will begin to be erected.

The YHS renovation and expansion project continues to move forward with lots of activity.  We continue to meet several times a month with representatives from DLR Architecture and Kingery Construction.

Before construction began in June, it was our hope that everything would be completed by September 1, 2013.  However, our target date for completion has now been pushed back by three months to December 1, 2013.

Some of the major things that have been worked on in September:

 
Some of the major things that will be worked on in October:

The YHS renovation and expansion project continues to move forward.  Within the next few weeks, the geothermal well field on the east side of campus will be complete.  This will allow for outstanding energy efficiency for the high school when the construction is complete.  Dirt work and foundations for the fine arts addition, new gym, and new storage/district office will also be a main focus of work this fall and will take up most of September, October, and November.

The York High School renovation and addition project continues to move forward.  A good deal of electrical and mechanical work was completed inside the building this summer, along with some carpet and door replacements.  The geothermal well field is currently being dug on the east side of campus.  Over the next few weeks, they will begin to pour foundations for the fine arts addition followed by the new gym.  We expect the fine arts addition to be completed in January with the new gym to be completed in June.  Throughout the upcoming school year, remodeling will continue to go on inside the facility.

We had anticipated an overall completion date of August 2013 but it now looks more likely that the project will be finished up in November 2013 instead.  The board of education has worked hard with the architect and construction company to analyze bid packages that came in during June and July to create the most cost effective building possible.  At the August 6^th special meeting, board members worked with DLR architects and Kingery Construction personnel to look at cost-savings ideas.  The $12.5 million bond allowed for a construction budget of $11.2 million and the bid packages are currently adding up to approximately $12.1 million so some further analysis is being done, along with some re-bidding, material substitutions, and other practices that will not impact the scope of the project.  There was some miscommunication between pre-bond cost analysts and post-bond architects, engineers, and construction managers that led to a difference in anticipated costs from last fall compared to actual hard bids that came in this summer.

When all is said and done, YHS will have all of the improvements made that were discussed during the bond issue campaign last fall.  If we are unable to get the overall construction budget down to the $11.2 million that was predicted by our architect and cost estimator last fall, we will simply use some money from our building fund, Qualified Capital Purposes Fund, bond interest proceeds, and profit from the sale of the current district office/storage facility and land located at 2918 North Delaware.  The use of money from these various funds will have no impact on our tax levy.    

Each construction project brings on its own set of challenges and hurdles that need to be addressed.  I’m proud of all the hard work the board of education has put into this enormous project.  We’re moving ahead and excited about what will transpire over the next 15 months.