Officials report repairs and urge close monitoring of Lowell High School contingency

City and construction officials told the Lowell City Council Tuesday that most of the gymnasium issues raised earlier have been repaired, but councilors pressed for continued oversight of the project's contingency as demolition work revealed unforeseen conditions.

Skanska and Suffolk representatives gave a status update on Lowell High School construction and committed to providing the council with the same monthly materials the School Building Committee receives and to quarterly presentations to the council.

"There are no leaks in that new roof, and there is no mold in the new Freshman Academy," said a representative for the design‑construction team, addressing concerns raised at a prior meeting. The team described repairs to a misaligned gym entrance glass, replaced locker‑room lock sets, corrected a leaking Victaulic fitting within hours and replaced a worn elevator part after multiple incidents earlier in the project.

Project staff described actions on multiple gym items — a replaced control panel for gym equipment, limiting switches added to protect the gym floor from wheel damage, repaired overhead door monitors and a condensate pump fix tied into the building management system. A multifunction TV for the weight room and replacement mirrors were reported as slated for installation during upcoming school breaks.

But several councilors expressed concern about contingency balances after the building entered demolition in the 1922 section and crews encountered structural and coordination issues. Councilor Dakota read figures from a project summary and said the report showed substantial contingency draws and roughly $6 million in change requests under review, leaving a forecasted construction contingency of about $3.5 million should the potential costs materialize.

"Unforeseen is when you go through the demolition and you take down the walls, there is something that was not included in the design because it was not known at the time of design," the project representative said, describing how demolition can reveal additional work. Councilors pressed for regular financial updates and said they wanted the next presentations to make contingency pressures clear.

City manager Golden and the project team said they are reviewing savings in other budget categories — including furniture, fixtures and equipment allocations — that could offset cost pressure, and that some claims and change requests have been rejected after review. "We are being very liberal and making sure we keep an eye on everything and including everything in that number," a project representative said of the $6 million figure in the report.

Council members requested continued transparency and frequent reporting; the project team agreed to quarterly presentations and to make monthly reports available to the council. Several councilors requested follow‑up meetings to review detailed line items cited in the change‑order log.

Project staff also noted that much of the known unknowns in the Phase 3 scope have been realized and that demolition work has moved into basement slab work, with the team estimating that about three‑quarters of Phase 3 square footage has had unknowns identified and addressed. Council members scheduled a council‑only walkthrough for mid‑February to review progress with project staff.