Work progressing on Saugus middle school project

SAUGUS – Construction on the first floor of the Belmonte Middle School is almost finished and work is set to move to the second floor, according to Jim Dowd, Project Manager for Skanska USA Building.”We have been working very closely with (construction management firm) Consigli monitoring everything,” said Dowd. “All of the time in the next week and a half will be used .. .We have movers scheduled for Friday afternoon at 3 and will do the majority of the moving on Saturday which may spill over to Monday.”Speaking to the Belmonte Building Committee Monday, Dowd said construction equipment will be moved to the second floor, while classroom equipment will be moved to the first floor.”Everything is progressing well,” said Dowd. “It will be complete. Consigli has been working overtime to ensure that ? As soon as the kids walk out for vacation the movers will be right in.”Dowd said asbestos abatement on the second floor will be done during Christmas break.As of Monday morning, Dowd said new windows were being installed while work on the brick facade continued with much of the first floor complete.”Some of the comments of people in the building is like, ‘Wow,'” said assistant principal Myra Monto. “They’re amazed at the progress and the windows make a huge difference.”Dowd also updated the committee on several change orders, including $1,700 for additional counter tops (the old ones had asbestos caulking around them) and additional painting not to exceed $8,000.Committee member Arthur Grabowski questioned a proposed change order for $6,800 for additional sprinkler heads.”I would think this company would come in and look at the building and know where to install the sprinklers in the first place,” said Grabowski. “To me it looks like the person doing the design wasn’t paying attention.”Dowd said the reason for having contingency money is for items like that.”There are going to minor items that are missed,” said Dowd. “That’s typical in the business.”There is currently $266,900 left in contingency money for the project.It was also announced that Jill Rachubinski, project manager for Consigli, will be replaced.”Skanska supports Consigli in making the changes to the team they need to make,” said Dowd. “They have our full support ? and we know there won’t be any impact to the project.”Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].