Lots of Action Going on Behind the Scenes

This information was published in the  restoration news center on May 16, 2012:

One of the things that I have learned in the past four and a half months about the renovating and rebuilding process is that when things look the slowest they may in fact be very busy.  So while there has not been a lot of action to watch about the church this week, there has been plenty of action behind the scenes. 

The Building Committee and CHK Architects received the sealed proposals and bids from several firms that are interested in being the Construction Manager for our project.   All the members of the committee reviewed all the proposals and after discussion have chosen 4 firms to invite for an interview.  The interviews will take place next week and by week’s end we should be ready to offer a contract to one of the firms.  Once the choice is made, the Construction manager and CHK will work together to come up with an estimate of cost for the new Meeting House.  With this estimate our Insurance Committee will be able to negotiate the settlement with our insurance company.  

The design for the kitchen, narthex, sanctuary, balcony and chancel are being tweaked by the CHK Designers to respond to comments and suggestions received at last week’s meetings with members of the church to discuss those areas.  There will be another brief review by the Building Committee and other representatives of the changes made before the June 3 Meeting of the architects and congregation.  By June 3 the design will be pretty much set and the presentation will show what the Meeting House will look like.

There have been some Requests for Bids issued by the Restoration Committee and the Building Committee.  In preparation for sheet rocking and finishing of the office area, it is necessary to complete work on voice, data and alarm systems.  Several firms, including local ones have been invited to submit proposals for this work.  These will be reviewed by the appropriate committee and contracts will be offered to the best qualified among them.  This selection process also included a review of the bids by the insurance company.  The Building Committee will also be reviewing proposals submitted by acousticians for their consultation services. 

It has been determined that the boiler that heats the Bugbee Center is sufficient to serve as an interim heating system for the office area during construction.  Heat is required in order to receive a Certificate of Occupancy from the town.  Other work that is being completed in the engineering area includes a review of our sanitation system, a series of borings to determine the capacity of the site to bear the lad of our building (you may see the drilling rig on site for one day), and a flow test to determine the adequacy of our water supply.   

On May 20, the Artifacts Committee will make a presentation to the congregation following the 10 o’clock worship service to share information and photos of items that have been salvaged from the fire, thoughts about how some items might be preserved or incorporated in to the new building, and suggestions of appropriate memorials in the new building.  They welcome input and hope there will be many people present for their presentation.

The June 3 meeting with CHK architects and designers will be very important.  This will be an opportunity for members of the church to see drawings of the proposed building, examples of flooring, color swatches and other displays that’s will help us all get a feel for the Meeting House that will be rising on our site over the next year.