BURLINGTON – Burlington High School (BHS) has been thoroughly evaluated by various agencies, and the portion of the process where presentations are made and pricing options announced is the responsibility of the BHS Building Committee.
Katherine Bond, chair of the BHS construction committee, confirmed that a new video showing the different construction options will be released in mid-January.
“The video will explain why some options were advanced and others were not,” Bond said, noting that while the video will be released sometime in January, she is “unsure” whether it will be presented to the City Council at its January meeting .
Tappe' Architects (design firm for the BHS project) previously presented several options for a new high school. Other than the options rejected by the BHS construction committee, no further details were provided as students would spend so much time off-site during construction, which was not considered cost effective.
“We had good reasons to rule out these project options,” Bond previously said of the situation.
The prerogative of this BHS building committee is to explore options surrounding a new high school in the coming years.
As part of the project's timeline, the school district has hired an entity to conduct a feasibility study at BHS. A feasibility study consists of evaluating the building based on the HVAC system and a few established and selected key areas: plumbing, electrical, current fire protection, and the architectural and structural size of the building.
Details examined include testing the HVAC system, the structural integrity of the building, and any regulations that may be triggered due to work at the school.
The feasibility study is the key to finding out exactly what needs to be repaired and upgraded and how much it will cost.
A key component of this process is reaching trigger points. In the case of school renovations, construction trigger points are percentage benchmarks that help assess pricing and mandatory improvements to ensure the project comes to fruition.
For example, the state's trigger guidelines stipulate that if a renovation “impacts” 30 percent of the property's assessed value or 30 percent of the property's square footage, the district is forced to bring the building into compliance with certain building codes.
Based on the HVAC assessment, ADA survey, and completed building structural reports, it was confirmed that the HVAC and other mechanical systems require replacement or repair. Information from the school board's existing reports would be incorporated into the study, which will examine both renovation and new construction options.
This matter will be a recurring item on the school board's agenda.
Anyone wishing to explore the project further should visit www.bhsbuildingproject.com.