East Greenwich officials report design-development progress on three-school project, warn of tariff and budget risks

East Greenwich officials told the Town Council on Feb. 24 that the district's three-school construction program has advanced into the design-development phase and will produce detailed cost estimates in the coming weeks.

Town Manager Andrew Nada said the project team is at a key midpoint in design development and that the design-development (DD) document set for contractor estimating will be issued in the next three weeks. "When I say things are progressing, I think something that's also important to focus on 'is the timelines associated with certain decision making elements that are now starting to ramp up," Nada said.

The consultant team delivered the presentation that outlined schedule and next approvals. Corey Panaro, project executive for Consigli Construction, said the DD set "will be coming out in the next 3 weeks," and described a sequence of approvals the town should expect: an April vote to allow submission of the DD package to the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), a MOA (memorandum of agreement) adjustment to reallocate funding between projects to be developed for presentation to the Council on Elementary and Secondary Education in May, 60% construction-document approval in mid-August, and early-release package funding requests in mid-September.

Why it matters: the town's earlier schematic estimate for the combined high school and two elementary schools was in the roughly $180 million range. The project team said continuous estimating and value engineering have brought the figure nearer to $172 million but that millions of dollars of changes remain under review. Council members have previously directed staff to seek ways to approach a $150 million target; consultants said reaching that level will require further value engineering and careful use of contingencies.

Scope, program and design decisions

The team described program changes and value-engineering steps that altered floor plans, site circulation and several building systems. Chris Kendall, associate project manager at AI3 Architects, said programming meetings with school staff have driven adjustments to classroom layouts and support spaces. The consultants described a move to a tempered-air / hybrid HVAC approach for many spaces rather than full, conventional rooftop air conditioning in every classroom; the working group and school construction committee recommended a hybrid design that consultants said balances initial cost and operational performance.

"This is the professional team meeting with different staff members 'focusing on each of their specific spaces so that we can get a better understanding of educationally what they need," Kendall said. Consultants said common areas, admin spaces and special-education rooms will be fully air-conditioned; many classrooms will receive tempered (conditioned and dehumidified) air that may not meet the absolute coldest-design-day setpoint but will be dehumidified and substantially more comfortable than current spaces.

Funding, MOA and state review

Consultants said they will propose a formal MOA adjustment that reallocates some RIDE-allocated funds among the high school and the elementary schools. "We're saving money here because we're able to do the scope for less. We're spending more money here because it's going to cost more to do that same amount of scope," a consultant said, summarizing why a reallocation request is typical at this project phase. Town staff said they will not submit an MOA adjustment until they have preliminary confirmation that RIDE will be receptive to the reallocation.

The team also described reimbursement mechanics: the town's bonding, the possibility of using bond premium to preserve RIDE participation, and the way RIDE's reimbursement (discussed in the meeting as a 55 percent participation rate for qualifying debt service) affects net town cost. Trish Sunderland, finance director and CFO, explained that certain uses of bond premium and the debt amortization schedule affect the reimbursement calculation and therefore the net town share.

Contingency, estimating and tariff risk

Consultants said design-development drawings will allow subcontractor-level pricing and that several sources of savings have already emerged. For example, recent MEP (mechanical/electrical/plumbing) pricing comparisons showed a drop from about $210 per square foot at schematic design to about $190 per square foot on more detailed estimates; the team estimated that difference could yield roughly $3 million in savings across the elementary schools.

At the same time, the team warned that federal tariff proposals and supply-chain uncertainty could increase select material costs (notably structural steel and some imported components). The consultants described a layered risk-management approach: design and estimating contingencies, an owner's contingency (the team recommended an owner's contingency near 7.5 percent at this phase), and staged buyout of long-lead items so the town can reduce exposure before signing major guaranteed-maximum-price contracts. "We need to manage that through the estimating component of this through the contingencies," a project manager said.

Next steps and timeline

No formal votes were taken on Feb. 24. The project team said it will return with the DD submission package and a draft MOA adjustment in April, and with requests for any early-release packages and 60% construction-document approvals later in the summer and early fall. Council members asked for continued detail on the specific items that could be cut or restored as the budget firmed up (examples cited in the meeting included playground and field scope, cafetorium vs. separate gym and dining rooms at elementary schools, and landscaping/hardscape choices). Consultants said they will prepare clear options tied to estimated savings so elected officials can make tradeoff choices.

Ending

Council members and staff emphasized they will continue to press the design team on value engineering while preparing to present the submission to RIDE. The town manager summarized the near-term work: finalize DD documents for estimating, test the MOA reallocation with RIDE informally, and return to the council with formal packets and recommended votes on the April timeline.