Manchester Memorial Elementary School

OVERVIEW

The Manchester Memorial Elementary School (MMES) consisted of the phased demolition of the existing school followed by the phased construction of the new 77,000 square foot elementary school within extremely close proximity to occupied portions of the existing building. W.T. Rich was responsible for the development, coordination and execution of the occupied site coordination plans unique to each phase in order to ensure minimal impact to the school's daily operations.

Phase 1 - Demolition of a classroom wing of the school and construction of a new 40,000 square foot academic wing as close as 6' from the existing school, which was occupied and operational throughout the duration of the school year.

Phase 2 - After turnover of the new academic wing for use by the school, demolition of two major classroom wings of the existing school took place to build the remaining portions of the new building. New work took place near the existing school and immmediately abutting the newly constructed academic wing of the new school - both areas were occupied throughout.

Phase 3 - After occupancy of the remainder of the new school, demolition of the remainder of the existing building, and construction of the main plaza, parking area and final site finishes were completed.

HIGHLIGHTS & CHALLENGES

• In the face of an extremely aggressive schedule, the project had to contend with wetlands and riverfront on three sides of the project, and a Conservation Commission approval schedule that was not going to meet our schedule needs. W.T. Rich designed a reduced-scope initial phase that was approved by the Commission and bought time for the civil engineer to conduct the additional analysis and calculations required by the Commission. Full approval was achieved one month later and adverse impact to the schedule was avoided.

• To navigate the complexities associated with the tight site and significantly limited laydown space, W.T. Rich defined and provided numerous temporary provisions: covered stairs; access roads to the occupied site; ADA walkways between open spaces; and security walls with temporary security hardware for secure separation between construction activity and school operations. W.T. Rich also utilized temporary insulated partitions and other sound barriers (e.g., insulated sound blankets on site fence) separating construction from adjacent classroom spaces in order to minimize noise disruption.

• At the Schematic Design phase, the initial, reconciled cost estimates were over $50 million - well over the target budget of $42 million. W.T. Rich led the value engineering efforts by identifying 90 cost saving ideas (out of 127) total and creating the framework for assessment and selection. The SBC selected 87 ideas and achieved $9.1 million in cost savings. The GMP was approved at $41.1 million. Upon proper completion, there remained unused owner change order contingency and CM contingency that was returned to the Owner, bringing the project in well under budget.