Settlement finishes Lynn Classical rehab suits

LYNN – The city has reached a legal settlement this week in the second part of a four-year litigation with construction and architectural firms it deemed responsible for structural deficiencies at Classical High School.The $2.1 million settlement effectively brings an end to the legal side of the Classical High School renovations and provides the funding to complete repairs to the school’s leaking roof, walls and windows.The settlement follows two days of mediation between the city and attorneys representing 10 firms who designed and constructed the building’s roof, walls and windows, concluding over four years of back-and-forth between the two parties.”With this resolution in Boston (Tuesday), the Classical High School litigation is complete,” said city attorney George Markopoulos. “We were actually very pleased because we thought the resolution of this would be in the area of $1.5-$1.8 million.”Problems with the building initially emerged in 2004 during an inspection and investigation into problems with the school’s concrete support slabs, a separate problem that would later net the city $8.5 million in litigation with several engineering and architectural firms.Investigators found that the building was leaking in several areas on the roof and walls and shoddy brickwork had led to warping and structural problems in several areas. In addition, inspectors deemed the construction on the three-story portion of the building’s exterior wall to be improper.As a result, the city sued Albanese Brothers Inc., Eastern Contractors Inc., Symmes Maini McKee Association, Gulf of Maine Research Center, Densification Inc., GZA Environmental Inc., Charles Anthony Construction, UTS of Massachusetts, WES Construction Corp. and AMG Construction Co. in 2005, sparking a legal tug of war that carried on until Tuesday.”They basically put the building together wrong,” said Inspectional Services Director Michael Donovan. “Improper masonry work led to water infiltration into the building, it caused deflection, bowing and bending.”Donovan said one major problem has been a severe lack of control joints, which are put in place so that when the building moves – as all buildings do – the bricks can slide into the joint. Because the building did not have enough control joints, the bricks warped, causing water to seep into the wallboards.”It was causing damage to the interior wall board, so we have to come in and cut it out and put it back,” said Donovan. “We have been having a lot of problems with it in the academic wing, we basically have to go in there every year and make these repairs, so this is something that will put an end to those yearly repairs.”The $2.1 million will be paid out over the next 30 days and will be used directly to fix the problems at the school.The city recently began moving forward on the fourth phase of the support slab repairs, completing work to the interior of the academic wing and beginning to tear up concrete and reinforce the support slab in the administrative wing.Donovan said the building repairs will take place in conjunction with the support slab project and will not delay students’ return to the building in September.”There are two different time lines, one for the slab and one for the (roof, walls and windows). The repairs are to the exterior building, so we would like to get started in the near future. We would like to get most of them done in the summer time,” said Donovan. “There may be a little disruption with them working on the outside of the building here and there, but it will not halt children from coming back to school.”