First phase of new $53 million Greenfield High School is under construction
biz greenfield high school 3.jpg
Construction on phase one of the new Greenfield High School with Shawmut Design and Construction, general contractor.
(The Republican / Michael S. Gordon)
GREENFIELD — The first phase of a four-phase, $53-million reconstruction of Greenfield High School is scheduled to be completed in August.
The project, being done by Boston-based Shawmut Design and Construction, will result in nearly all of the high school being torn down and replaced in stages from now until December 2015, said Michael Kearns a project manager with Shawmut.
TheMassachusetts School Building Authority has estimated a maximum state funding for the project at $43.1 million and has approved of the design, according to the authority. The school is designed for an enrollment of 585 students in grades 8 through 12.
The first phase includes 85,000 square feet of classroom space that will be ready for the next school year. The school will not close; rather, students will shift from space to space as parts of the building are torn down and rebuilt.
The next phase, to begin in July, will involve taking down the existing 8th-grade wing and building classrooms and an auditorium in its place.
Kearns said there are about 60 to 80 tradespeople on the work site at any given time, with many of them being local residents.
Greenfield citizens voted in 2012 to borrow up to $24 million for the project.
I write about business for The Republican and have been here since March of 2008. Before coming to The Republican, I was a reporter for The Saratogian in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.