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Pleasanton Unified School District will break ground on the first phase of the new science building at Hart Middle School at a virtual ceremony scheduled to take place on Tuesday evening.
Superintendent David Haglund made the announcement at the Board of Trustees meeting last Thursday, the same night when the board also unanimously approved a $1,941,747 contract with Silicon Valley Paving Inc. for work on the project’s first phase, otherwise called a package, which calls for building a new parking lot and secondary drop-off lane.
John Chwastyk, the district’s executive director of facilities, construction and bond program, told the cabinet that it was “an exciting time” for Hart project, estimated at $11.4 million overall
“That is really neat that we’re going to actually see the parking lot and the drop-off go in, provided this agenda item is approved,” Chwastyk said.
During the second phase, the science building courtyard will be built, followed by modular construction of the new science building during the third phase. For the fourth and final phase, the existing science labs will be renovated into general education classrooms, and four portable buildings will be removed from the site.
When work is completed, the campus will have six new classrooms equipped with a full laboratory set up for multiple science disciplines, and the existing science buildings will be repurposed and converted into regular classrooms. The district said the new science building “will allow for instructors and students to have a hands-on learning experience.”
Chwastyk added, “We’re really not adding much capacity, in fact it’s all in one classroom.”
By dividing work into “distinct scope packages,” staff said they are able to “have greater overall control of the project while maintaining proper infrastructure and path of travel for the site at all times.”
Staff said this approach “also works to solicit and secure a modular contractor independently of the other scope, which in practice would allow better control of both budget and schedule.”
Originally, the estimated construction costs for the first package was about $2.25 million, but the latest bid from Silicon Valley Paving brought that down by about $300,000.
Measure I1 revenue will fund construction of the project, with Phase 1 expected to finish by August, according to the district. PUSD will livestream the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Hart Middle School science building on Tuesday (April 27) starting 5 p.m.
