Building Committee Making Good Progress

This information was published in the  restoration news center on May 30, 2012:

The Building Committee continues to make good progress. This week they have been working on choosing a firm to work with the acoustics in the new Meeting House and should be ready to make a formal announcement of their selection on Sunday. Sunday is the day of the important meeting with the Design Team and representatives of the Construction Management Team. The meeting, as we have said, will feature a brief presentation by the design team, a chance for everyone to meet the Construction Managers, and – most exciting – to see some of the finishes we will be using in the new meeting house.

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The plan for the meeting is to have lots of items that can be seen on display. Everyone will have a chance to walk around, talk with the Construction Manager and the Design Team and members of the Building Committee, ask questions and get a good understanding of what the new Meeting House will look like.

Progress continues to be made in the Office and Bugbee wings of our church complex. Shelves in Champ’s Place are being upgraded so that they will be better able to hold the weight of the food stored there. Windows have been replaced in the Care Room on the second floor and unusable ceiling pieces have been removed. Work has begun to make it possible to hook the office wing into the Bugbee heating system, a necessary step in getting the office wing up to a level that it can be occupied. We have requested bids from several firms for the Data and Voice systems and the Alarm systems we will need. These will be installed in such a way that they can be hooked into the systems in the new Meeting House when it is built.

We have been discussing the date for groundbreaking and are anxious to be able to share it with the congregation. Although the plans are well underway and many decisions have been made, getting from the design stage to the building stage involves securing multiple approvals from town building and safety officials as well as reaching some level of agreement about the settlement with the insurance company. While we are not ready to make a final settlement, we need to have a shared understanding of the extent of the loss. When we hold the groundbreaking ceremony we will be ready to begin construction and building, and then progress will be very visible.

Through these weekly updates we have been trying to let the congregation know what is going on and keep you abreast of the progress. Each week several committees are hard at work on a variety of activities. While there is not a lot to see, there is a lot being done. If you have specific questions about progress that have not been addressed here yet, please email me, bcass@somerscongregational.org, and let me know. I would be happy to answer any question I can. Our goal is to keep everyone as informed as possible.