Construction continues in the Waynesville R-VI School District, though weather continues to cause problems and delay progress.
Speaking to school board members at their June 16 meeting, architect Michael Sapp said the district’s largest and highest-profile project, the new Waynesville Career Center building west of Waynesville High School that will eventually replace the Waynesville Technical Academy building, continues to move ahead.
“Obviously we’re still contending with weather issues that are a little bit abnormal for our time of the year. Hopefully, we can get some things dried out and actually move into some typical summer weather,” Sapp said.
The biggest non-weather delay has been getting structural steel to the site. Sapp said he’s pleased with progress during the past month, much of which is directly related to being able to get the needed steel on the site and erected.
“We have appreciated our general contractors’ approach to the project to continue to try to be proactive even though we’ve had some other issues there to prevent some of the exterior closure of the new construction,” Sapp said. “They have moved forward in that area and we’re pleased with the amount of construction that’s complete there.”
The work isn’t just going rapidly, Sapp said; it’s also being done right.
“I think I’ve mentioned before we’re also pleased with the quality of work that’s taking place,” Sapp said. “We are very pleased with the concrete flat work and the concrete block. Those are areas that we have to watch very closely these days for a lot of reasons and they’ve done an excellent job there.”
Sapp said 90 to 95 percent of the work complete in shop areas A and B of the existing building, and the information technology cable and wiring is now being installed. In area C, steel structures have arrived and have been erected. In classroom area D, all concrete work is done, metal studs are almost done, and fireproofing, rough-in plumbing and fire sprinklers is being installed.
Exterior work hasn’t gone as rapidly, Sapp said.
“The general contractor’s goal, as soon as he can get the site dried out and have enough weather-permitting days, he wants to go ahead and get the site paved,” Sapp said.
Roofing and exterior walls should be installed soon as well, he said.
“Hopefully you’ll have a better view of what the building is going to look like,” Sapp said. “I don’t know if you’ve been able to visualize or not the curved wall on the east side of the building. It’s raw steel, but if you squint and visualize that being enclosed, you might be able to pick up on that important element on the east side of the building, as well as the front of the building that’s going to be very dominant when it’s enclosed, the curved front entryway with the canopy pieces.”
Architect Dwight Dickinson said work on a $1.5 million phase one project at Williams Elementary on Fort Leonard Wood is going well, with one major exception.
“We have discovered a bit of a problem underneath the kitchen floor; we have discovered some bad soil. As they were cutting the slab to put in underground piping, they discovered that some of the soil underneath is unacceptable; it is actually mud,” Dickinson said. “Right now we are looking at completing this project around the first of August, but depending upon what the remedial effort is involved here will determine if this project slips a bit.”
Work on a $2.4 million refurbishing project at East Elementary School in Waynesville is moving ahead as well, said Scott Ryrie of Control Technology Solutions.
“It’s amazing how much work can get accomplished in a short amount of time,” Ryrie said.
Ryrie said most of the demolition work is finished on rooftop units and the boiler room is completely cleaned out, but work on unit ventilators in classrooms has been postponed. Much of the concrete block work is done, he said, but some of the interior construction has to be postponed until the computer file server can be moved. Equipment is arriving for fire alarms, electrical controls and other automation, he said.
Changes that will benefit the teachers include installing more electrical receptacles for plugs and moving the ceilings up about three inches to improve the “openness” of the classrooms.
The ceiling move created an unexpected issue: Ryrie said workers were surprised to find much more insulation above the ceilings than they had expected, and ended up hauling away 20 dumpsters full of insulation when they expected only half that amount.
Board member Randy Walters wanted to verify the project schedule.
“It sounds to me like you’re ahead of schedule or at least on it to get it done so we will be able to have school in August?” Walters asked.
That’s correct, Ryrie said.
“The kids will have school in August,” Ryrie said. “We’re pretty good abut getting our projects done and on time.”
Matters aren’t coming along as well in other district construction projects, however.
Jon Oetinger, Waynesville’s assistant superintendent for business and finance, said as of the board meeting date, there was only one full day when work on a $1.6 million athletic field project was possible. However, Oetinger said representatives of Bales Construction contacted him to propose deducting a $244,300 pre-cast construction concession building from the work and replacing it with a less expensive $184,900 building of the same size to be built by Bales, along with as $25,000 savings for lowering the multipurpose field.
“The biggest difference in the two (buildings) was the actual getting here and delivery of it because of the crane that was going to be needed to off-load it,” Oetinger said. “That’s when Bales got hold of me and let me know what the differences would be.”
Renovation of the Waynesville Middle School kitchen is underway, Oetinger said, with demolition work completed in mid-June and kitchen equipment expected to be installed by mid-July.