Wildwood and Fort River schools are beyond their useful lives; renovation is not an option.
While it’s obvious to any expert in my field, this fact is not something a layperson would typically intuit. During recent discussions about schools, renovation was put forth a few times, most notably during Town Meeting.
It’s not surprising that people outside my profession would assume renovation makes sense. But a school is nothing like a home, so this frame of reference does a disservice.
“Beyond useful life” is jargon meaning there’s very little value remaining. Most components are worn out, major systems failing, required systems non-existent. Nearly everything must be replaced or significantly reworked.
Inefficiencies drive costs higher than new construction. And the resulting building is inferior; compromises are explicit.
Some recently called for more study of renovation, but a detailed analysis by a team of experts found Wildwood’s renovation alone would cost $35 million; just code-required items are $19 million.
A 50-page summary is available online. Representative findings include, “Any renovation scheme would require demolition of every demising wall and addition of masonry shear walls … would require substantial upgrades to fire protection and possibly a variance for the overall allowable area of the building from the State Building Code Appeals Board … would require substantial improvements to the exterior envelope in order to meet the current energy code … All HVAC components have reached antiquated condition and considerations should be given to replacing all original equipment … The chiller plant should be replaced in the near future.”
And then there’s the lead, asbestos, mold, leaks, high water table, etc. It’s an excellent and thorough analysis documenting the obvious.
Tom Davies
Amherst
The writer is director of design and construction at Amherst College.
