District gets ready to hire contractors
— Scott Hunter photo
A group of contractors Tuesday listen to the details of destruction, including how much of the walls of Wright Elementary must be disposed of as hazardous waste — including the wooden studs, which can’t be cleaned of hazardous asbestos in the interior of the walls.
The Grand Coulee Dam School District board has set a special meeting for July 11, to select a construction management firm for the K-12 school project, and to award a contract for the demolition of the vacated A.E. Wright Elementary School building.
The district is advertising for interested parties to bid on the demolition of the school, and Tuesday interested companies were here for a walk- through of the school as they scramble to prepare bids due no later than 3 p.m. July 11.
The board will open bids at that time and then award the bid during an evening meeting scheduled for 6 p.m.
Throughout the day, on July 11, the board will be interviewing five firms that have shown an interest in managing the construction project of the $31 million facility. By state law the district must hire a management firm to assist in following the construction detail and working with the architects, Design West.
The five firms are: lOAC, from Spokane; CFG, from Vancouver, Wash .; Hill International from Spokane; Herry International, from Seattle; and Wenaha Group, Pendleton, Ore.
The project is scheduled to go out to bid in January, 2013, with construction to begin that spring.
Occupancy of the new facility is scheduled for school opening in the fall of 2014.
The management firm will work with all parties, including the general contractor, to see that the project stays on schedule.
At a school board meeting Monday night, Design West architect Cameron Golightly went over some changes in the overall plan -- mainly some parking changes and preliminary grounds ideas.