North Reading School Building Project Budget Back on Track

In November, the North Reading Secondary Schools Building Committee (SSBC) learned that several line items exceeded original budget estimates for the school building project. Since then, they have been eliminating items from the budget to bring the cost down.

According to Superintendent Kathleen Willis, the goal remains to keep the project on schedule and on budget. The original estimate for the project was $108 million.

After removing several items from the budget in late November, including pre-cast seat walls and roof-screens, additional items were eliminated at a meeting on Dec. 4, Willis said. After taking a look at other budget items at a subsequent meeting on Dec. 11, here are a few more that will be eliminated and the amount that will be saved:

• the District Office has been added as an add alternate, $962,433
• to loam and seed the lower fields in the front of the school, $280,000

The following items will be deferred:

• basketball hoops in the gym will no longer be automated and the divider netting will not be installed, saving $140,00
• plantings, saving $180,000

“As a result of the work done on Dec. 11, we have achieved the target construction cost budget with a cushion of $355,000 at 60 percent construction document completion," Willis said.

Once the construction documents are 90 percent complete, additional value engineering may be necessary.