Revere committee approves $50,150 Passive House registration and $30,000 National Grid study deposit

The Revere High School Building Committee on Thursday approved two contractor payments for the ongoing Revere High School project: a $50,150 registration fee to the Passive House Institute and a $30,000 initial deposit to National Grid to fund an electrical engineering study.

The $50,150 payment will register the Revere High School project in the Passive House program, a third-party verification process that includes document review and on-site testing to confirm that mechanical and envelope systems perform to design. Committee member Brian (staff member) said the fee covers the registration and the Passive House provider’s services. He described the program as “another layer of testing at the end of the job to make sure all these mechanical systems got implemented in the way that are designed.” A committee member asked whether the Passive House work would affect MSBA (Massachusetts School Building Authority) reimbursement; Brian said it would not increase MSBA reimbursement, which requires LEED, but that the Passive House cost should be eligible for reimbursement. He also said staff would follow up with Perkins Eastman to investigate other possible grant opportunities.

The committee then approved a $30,000 contract dated March 31, 2025, as an initial back charge deposit to National Grid to fund an engineering power study for the Wonderland site. Brian said the site has not had significant electrical service in at least a decade and the study is the first step in determining permanent power needs and costs. He said the study can take four to six months and that the final National Grid back charge is expected to be substantially higher than the initial deposit. After this commitment, Brian said there would remain about $245,000 in the project’s utility-fee budget line; he also noted a prior commitment of $24,003.83 for fiber/data service to the site.

Both motions were presented as requests to authorize the city and the school to execute the contracts and pay the pending invoices; Brian said each will also appear on the project’s April 30 monthly invoice summary for recordkeeping and later reimbursement processing.

Votes at a glance: The motion to approve the Passive House Institute contract for $50,150 and authorize payment passed by roll call. The motion to approve the National Grid contract (initial back charge deposit of $30,000, dated 03/31/2025) also passed by roll call. Members recorded as voting ‘‘Yes’’ on the Passive House motion included Mike Picardi; Susan Gravalese; Dr. Kelly; Carl Svensson; Christopher Bowen; Don Cermelo; Tom Skorowski; John Stamatopoulos; Councilor Kamilani; John Martelli; and Joshua Miranda. The National Grid motion recorded the same ‘‘Yes’’ votes in the roll call.