Project manager says Belmonte renovation ahead of schedule

SAUGUS – Jim Dowd, project manager for Skanska USA Builders, said work on phase two of the Belmonte Middle School repair project is two weeks ahead of schedule.?Phase two is proceeding very well ?” said Dowd in an update to the Belmonte Building Committee. “Phase one, which ended Dec. 30, finished well. The move went smoothly.”There are some punch list items still being resolved but overall everything is operating as you can see, as evidenced by this classroom.”Monday?s meeting was held in one of the newly repainted classrooms on the first floor at the school.Dowd also said workers are “getting into items scheduled for phase four” of the project in order to get a jump-start on “certain items in advance.”Phase 4 is going to have a good amount of work for the summer.After speaking with the Massachusetts School Building Authority, Dowd said the MSBA is happy with the way work is proceeding and noted he tried to see if they could use savings other than contingency money for change orders, but said he was “unsuccessful.”?MSBA rules don?t allow that but I thought it was worth asking,” said Dowd.The committee also approved a list of change orders totaling more than $14,000.These include additional counter tops for $1,700 and additional painting on first floor for $3,200.?Some of the exterior walls had been painted over the years in unusual manners so we decided to paint them all off white,” said Dowd.Dowd also said it will cost $6,800 to encapsulate lead paint on an exterior wall, which he called the “least expensive” and “most environmentally safe” option.Dowd predicted about $240,000 left in contingency money.However, Dowd said it will cost up to an additional $35,000 of contingency to replace shades for the new windows throughout the building. Dowd said the original shades, which were to be re-used, are too short after the windows were made bigger to allow more light into the classrooms.The committee approved this amount and Dowd said they could be installed by April vacation, which leaves around $205,000 left in contingency.The committee will meet again on Feb. 25 in the Roby Building.Matt Tempesta can be reached at [email protected].