School Building Committee approves $36.2 million BRR to fund remainder of high school Phase 4 after progress update

The Lowell City School Building Committee voted to approve a $36,185,757 budget revision (BRR) to the MSBA line item, a confirmatory funding action intended to cover the remainder of Phase 4 of the high school construction and anticipated unforeseen conditions.

Austin Ball, speaking for the building committee, described the item as "a confirmatory vote by this body, to make, in essence, fund the remainder of the portion of phase 4 plus any of the unforeseen conditions." The roll-call vote was recorded in favor, with the clerk reporting the motion passed 14 yes, 0 no, 0 abstentions.

The vote followed a presentation from the project team on construction progress. Kyle, the Skanska presenter, said Phase 3 (the auditorium area) has been turned over and demolition and abatement for Phase 4 are active. He said the future media center mezzanine steel is being removed to create a double-height space and that window installation for Levels 2 and 3 has begun.

Kevin Kane provided a budget overview ahead of the vote. Kane reported an encumbered amount of roughly $411 million, a revised project value of about $418 million, pending change requests estimated near $8 million, an owner contingency remaining of $1.4 million and a construction-manager contingency of about $83,000. Kane said pending change requests are estimates under review with Suffolk and the design team and that some values may be reduced after further scrutiny.

Concerns from committee members centered on the sufficiency of contingencies and the history of unforeseen costs. School committee member Bahu asked whether $2 million borrowed from the FF&E account would be replenished; Kane replied that a subsequent BRR would return funds to that account. Several committee members pressed the project team for reassurances that the $36.2 million request would be adequate.

In response, the project team pointed to its experience during Phase 3 and said the requested amount was informed by historical change-order experience and proportional square footage analysis. Kyle also described operational changes to reduce future unknowns: "We now know this going into the project, so we have the geotech engineer in Perkins Eastman. They will be on-site for those first activities," he said, noting geotechnical staff will be present at slab demolition to identify issues immediately rather than days later.

After the vote, committee members scheduled the next School Building Committee meeting for May 14 and a walk-through for SBC and city council members on May 16 at 10 a.m. Kevin Kane and Skanska said demolition and new-work trades (walls, plumbing and roof piping) will continue and that visible progress should be apparent at the next monthly visit.

The committee adjourned following the scheduling and closing procedural motions.