MARBLEHEAD — Work on the new Elbridge Gerry Elementary School is shifting indoors just in time for the season’s first snowstorm’s Thursday arrival.
Temporary heaters and equipment to provide heat in the building are scheduled to be delivered and set up Wednesday with the equipment running by Friday, according to a town website update on the project.
The new 83,000-square-foot school building is being built on the Baldwin Road location of the former Bell School. It will provide space for 450 kindergarten through third grade students and two pre-kindergarten classes. The building will include a media center, cafeteria, gymnasium and stage space.
“At this point, the new school project is going along very smoothly. The progress is remarkable, and we are extremely pleased with the collective work of our Building Committee and project partners Gilbane (construction), Leftfield (project managers), and RDA (architects).
“The exterior brickwork has made significant progress, the windows are on-site, and installation is ongoing. At this stage, the team is preparing the building for the winter months so that the crew can move on to interior elements as the weather starts to turn,” said School Superintendent John Buckey.
Even as workers continued exterior ground preparation work around the Baldwin Street school building, work progressed inside Monday with window installation.
A metal window contractor is installing windows on the two sides of the building and, according to the update, overhead mechanical, electrical, fire protection and plumbing installation is underway on the school’s interior second level.
Work during the project’s current phase also includes waterproofing and masonry in different building sections. Mechanical piping insulation is scheduled to commence on the interior second level as interior metal-framing work progresses.
The school site’s neighbors should anticipate snow plowing and clearing crews getting to work on Thursday at 5 a.m. to clear the site and make it safe in advance of construction workers starting their day.
“This activity has been communicated to both the Marblehead Building Department and Police Department,” the update stated.
The school will replace the 114-year-old building closed by the town in 2018 and sold to a condominium developer in May with architectural preservation stipulations set by the town.
A town building committee report prepared for Town Meeting in 2016 included a long list of deficiencies in the old Gerry School, including this stark conclusion: “Structural elements are beyond their lifespan.”
The building’s original roof leaked; hot water pipes were strapped together with wood and chicken wire; the windows were deteriorating; and, the report stated, “major systems are obsolete,” including the 63-year-old boiler.
Kindergarten classrooms were half the size recommended by state building officials and the school gym had an eight-foot ceiling.
“We are happy to report that the project is on budget and we look forward to opening the doors to pre-kindergarten through third grade students early in the 2021-2022 school year,” said Buckey.
