Consultants report district-wide facility assessment; cost estimates to follow

A consultant team presented a district-wide facilities conditions assessment to the Asheville City Schools board on Feb. 6, reporting that most problems are moderate and largely cosmetic but that several sites require targeted work.

Aubrey Donnellan, project manager with McMillan Pass and Smith, told the board the team inspected every campus floor to ceiling, geolocated individual "instances" of concern and rated elements on a 1-to-5 scale. "One is extremely worn or inoperable; a three is aged but functional," Donnellan said. She said the district's largest share of instances were rated 3, about 24% were rated 2 and a small share were rated 1, meaning urgent repair.

The consultants broke issues into five categories: site, building envelope, interiors, mechanical/electrical/plumbing (MEP) and health, safety and security (HSS). Hamilton Court, who leads the Charlotte office team, said interior items made up roughly 46% of instances and HSS accounted for about 18% when assessed against current ADA and building-code standards. "Several facilities are grandfathered for code but would trigger ADA upgrades if altered," Court said.

Site-specific findings included roof leaks at Isaac Dixon and Asheville Middle School, water-drainage problems driving interior damage at multiple schools, and older single-pane windows and noncompliant door hardware at several campuses. At the district operations facility ("441") Donnellan said asbestos flooring remains in many rooms and some wet areas may have encapsulation beneath carpet; she recommended confirming prior abatement work before cost estimates are finalized.

Board members asked how "instances" are counted and whether a single building-wide replacement (for example, all windows) would be scored as one instance or many. Donnellan said the team records either a single recommendation for system-wide replacement or individual instances depending on whether the problem is localized or pervasive. "If all windows are dated, our recommendation would be to replace all windows and that would count as one instance for that recommendation," she said.

Consultants said they had completed the conditions assessment and are now commissioning cost estimating; they expect cost data to be ready in the coming weeks and aim to present an executive summary or a full update to the board in March or April. The next steps will layer cost, demographic projections and utilization options onto the assessment to produce prioritized recommendations for maintenance, capital projects and long-term planning.

The board thanked facilities staff and the consultant team for the work. April (staff) introduced the presentation and will help coordinate follow-up questions and documentation requests. Donnellan said the assessment data are kept in an online platform with geolocated floor plans and photos so the district can filter instances by location and priority.

The consultants emphasized the difference between cosmetic maintenance and systems upgrades: interior finishes and lighting are often simpler and less costly to address than building-envelope or MEP repairs that can cause a snowball effect if left unaddressed. "Replacing a mechanical system will be a bulk of the cost," Donnellan said. The board asked consultants to verify asbestos abatement records for rooms where removal work has been claimed.