New school: Ahead of schedule, under budget
Nearly a year ago, the construction of a new school – Woodland Elementary School – began. And now, the Alexandria School District 206 project is nearing completion.By: Celeste Beam, Alexandria Echo Press
- Exterior of school
- Cafeteria area
- Interior of school
More...
Nearly a year ago, the construction of a new school – Woodland Elementary School – began.
And now, the Alexandria School District 206 project is nearing completion.
Located on County Road 46, one-half mile south of the intersection of McKay Avenue and 6th Avenue, Woodland Elementary will be ready to open this fall.
“We are ahead of schedule on the project,” said DLR Group representative Deb Metz, who is the construction manager of the $20.9 million project.
Along with an inside look and tour of the building, Metz provided the newspaper with a brief overview of the project.
One important aspect Metz commented on was the savings to taxpayers because of heating costs during the construction period.
“We are definitely under budget,” said Metz. “We saved a lot of money in temporary heating costs.”
Last summer, the construction of the school was supposed to start in early May, explained Metz, but a snowstorm halted the project. Shortly after construction began, it rained – a lot.
The summer was horrible because there was so much mud at the work site, she said.
But Metz told construction workers that the outside of the building had to be enclosed by October 31 to help with the heating costs.
She said everyone pulled together, working hard to get the building enclosed before winter. And with a lot of teamwork from all the contractors, the building was enclosed and windows were installed even before winter hit.
“It [the building] was permanently buttoned up before December,” Metz said, adding that it resulted in an “enormous savings to the public.”
Contractors are into finishes right now, she said, as in finishing the sheetrock, getting the inside of the building cleaned up, installing flooring and putting up ceiling tiles.
In addition, the building is at the point that the sprinkling system and fire alarm equipment can be installed.
In the kindergarten wing, cubicles have been placed in the classrooms, along with plumbing fixtures and flooring.
The walls in the gymnasium have been painted and basketball hoops have been installed.
Most of the walls around the rest of the school have also been painted and many of the rooms have been assigned – pieces of paper with names of teachers and staff have been placed outside the rooms.
And in the kitchen/food service area, most of the stainless steel equipment has arrived and is in the process of being installed.
At monthly school board meetings, Metz, along with other DLR representatives and Paul Ringdahl from Ringdahl Architects, provides updates to the school board and administrators as to how the building is progressing, which she noted is quite nicely.
The goal is to start turning the building over to the owners – Alexandria School District 206 – in June, said Metz. Although she also noted that there is still a summer’s worth of outside work that needs to be done.
FUN FACTS
For the electrical portion of the school, there are 50,000 feet or 9.5 miles of conduit; 200,000 feet or 38 miles of cabling; and 250,000 feet or 47.5 miles of wire.
There are nearly 3,000 yards of concrete – that is roughly the length of 30 football fields.
The mechanical pipe, which is like plumbing pipe, could stretch for 7.5 miles.
The exterior walls house 65,000 blocks, which are on the inside, and 120,000 bricks, which are on the outside.
Tags: news, woodland, elementary, school, district, 206
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