In today’s construction news, hear about how, with an anticipated completion date of just over a year, the Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program in the city of Enid continues to see steady progress. Miles of pipeline segments, booster pumps and intake stations, a waterline, and Enid’s new water treatment plant on West Chestnut make up the various parts of the Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program. Meanwhile, C.W. Driver Companies is building the $54.5 million Menifee Union School District Elementary School #15. DLR Group | BakerNowicki will build a 46-acre horseshoe-shaped K-5 school. The 75,000-square-foot Riverside County school will have roughly two dozen classrooms and a kindergarten. The new school will also have a contemporary library and information center, an administration area, a cafeteria, and a big multipurpose room with a state-of-the-art audiovisual system.
The Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program is Still Under Construction
Original Source: Construction ongoing for Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program
Enid’s Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program will be finished in a little over a year.
The Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program contains miles of pipeline, booster pump and intake stations, a waterline, and Enid’s new West Chestnut water treatment facility.
Enid Engineering Director Muralikumar Katta-Muddanna stated the five key sections of the Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program break down into a range of construction projects, with groundbreaking in November 2021.
Katta-Muddana estimates completion on June 27, 2024. Enid and Northwest Oklahoma residents will receive 10.5 million gallons per day from Kaw Lake, a reservoir 8 miles east of Ponca City, Okla., for decades.
Katta-Muddana said the Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program would improve Enid for 100 years.
In the past year, ECC has approved a joint resolution ratifying an agreement granting the Ponca Tribe of Oklahoma a $4.2 million settlement for its forbearance from proceeding in court over the pipeline’s construction and operation on tribal land in Kay County, accepted rights-of-way permits for Kay County land tract easements, and authorized resolutions allowing the city of Enid to condemn certain tracts of land in Kay County for the Kaw Lake Water Pipeline Program.
Six Change Orders have occurred since construction began two-and-a-half years ago. Katta-Muddanna said Enid City Commission authorized the latest one for the Chestnut Waterline at its May 16, 2023, regular meeting.
Change Order No. 6 with Garney Companies included permitted plans, specifications, modifications, and Guaranteed Maximum Price assumptions and explanations. Construction Manager at Risk was the bid-date bid package procurement.
It superseded all requests for information, field orders, city of Enid directives, engineering memorandums, and construction directions through March 2023 and integrated all escalation, except design modifications after May 16, 2023.
Change Order No. 6, which ECC appropriated $8,243,902.53 for at the May 16, 2023, regular meeting for Phase 4 construction, was funded by $4 million in congressional appropriations and $4 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds, resulting in a final GMP of $256,824,042.73 and 148 days added to the contract.
Katta-Muddanna said the completed construction date includes weather and material-availability delays.
He added water pipeline Segments 7 and 8 are under development. The intake station and Chestnut water treatment facility are under construction, while the booster pump station near Garber is finished.
Katta-Muddanna stated the procedure is going well.
He noted that Chestnut waterline repair will begin in late July or early August, disrupting local residents’ everyday routines.
“Because it’s in the country, the work has been minimally disruptive,” he said. “Then it will be downtown.”
Katta-Muddanna wants an electronic sign to alert locals.
Beginning of Construction at New K–5 SoCal School
Original Source: Work Commences at Ground-Up SoCal K-5 School
The $54.5 million Menifee Union School District Elementary School #15 is being built by C.W. Driver Companies. The DLR Group | BakerNowicki-designed horseshoe-shaped K-5 school will be built on 46 acres.
Nearly two dozen classrooms and a kindergarten facility will fill Riverside County’s 75,000-square-foot school. The new school will also have a contemporary library and information center, administration area, cafeteria, and huge multipurpose space with an advanced audiovisual system.
Playgrounds, track fields, a pickup/dropoff area, a parking lot for over 100 cars, and gathering places will be available outside the school. Street repairs on Wickerd Road are also needed due to the comprehensive makeover of the plot of land.
According to the general contractor and designers, the school will have 600 pupils in July 2024.
“This is the second school we’ve worked on for the Menifee Union School District, with Menifee Valley Middle School being the first,” said Andy Feth, project executive of C.W. Driver Companies. “In that instance, it was an intricate expansion of an existing campus, while this is a completely new build from the ground up.”
C.W. Driver officials told School Construction News that the general contractor had to get creative with its partners to keep the project moving due to a large budget overrun.
Eric Metzger, C.W. Driver’s senior project manager, said, “Much of the savings were realized during the short window between bid opening and award, which is a testament to the overall project team’s determination and hard work.”
San Diego USD’s Nipaquay Elementary School, Grossmont UHSD’s El Capitan High School Events Center, San Dieguito UHSD’s Torrey Pines HS Modernization, and Chino Valley USD’s New K-8 The Preserve II School are among C.W. Driver’s K-12 projects in California. In its century-plus history, the firm has completed over 150 educational initiatives.
Since 1919, C.W. Driver has specialized in school construction, including construction management.
Beckville ISD Board, Architect Evaluate Construction Bid Information
Original Source: Beckville ISD board, architect to review construction bid details
Beckville ISD will negotiate with the low bidder on bond-funded construction projects to decrease costs and fit the project inside the $17 million package voters authorized in early 2022.
At a Tuesday Board of Trustees meeting, Troy Brown, architect with TD-Architects of Longview, discussed how inflation, construction labor shortages, supply chain challenges, and other factors delayed and perhaps changed the project’s scope.
Beckville High School’s planned extensions and new competitive gymnasium are at risk. On May 16, the low bid of $20,975,750 was more than $3.9 million above the $17 million bond approved by voters.
The only other bid was $22 million from Little Rock, Arkansas-based CDI, while Whitehouse’s SCI commercial construction firm got the lowest bid.
Brown reported that the low bid was $382 per square foot. He noted that was 80% higher than TD-Architects’ 2019 Gilmer ISD project. The Gilmer project from four years ago cost $212 per square foot.
Brown added, “Historically, just in my career since 2004, construction inflation has been pretty steady, somewhere between four and six percent a year.” I believed the BISD construction estimates were conservative.
He claimed the $17 million estimate for Beckville projects was based on a 35-to-40 percent inflation rate from the firm’s 2019 Gilmer project. Brown estimated the BISD per square foot cost at $270–$280.
He said it would have exceeded the four-to-six percent average. “With that being said, with it coming in at $382 (cost per square foot) a week ago, that’s just something that’s very difficult to plan for.”
Brown said he would engage SCI engineers and representatives on cost-saving opportunities. He said such negotiations would focus on not decreasing the project’s square footage while splitting out many of the cost areas to analyze potential savings.
The board overwhelmingly hired Kirby Moore as Beckville Junior High School’s 2023-2024 coach during the May 23 meeting. Tim Jones made the motion to retain Moore on a 10-month probationary contract.
Summary of US Construction News
In summary, Katta-Muddanna stated that any circumstances that could cause construction delays, such as weather and material availability, are factored into the completion timeline. Katta-Muddanna stated that he intends to have an electronic sign installed in the area to warn people of what is going on.
Meanwhile, C.W. Driver’s education-related CV of K-12 projects includes their work at San Diego USD’s Nipaquay Elementary School, Grossmont UHSD’s El Capitan High School Events Center, San Dieguito UHSD’s Torrey Pines HS Modernization, and Chino Valley USD’s New K-8 The Preserve II School. All of these projects are located in the Golden State. The company has been around for more than a century, and in that time it has completed more than 150 educational projects.
C.W. Driver is a construction company that has been in business since 1919. The company specializes in the development of educational facilities and offers services such as construction management.
Finally, Brown stated he would speak with engineers and SCI personnel regarding cost cutting measures. He stated that the discussions would center around isolating several of the cost categories to examine potential savings without lowering the overall square footage of the project. In other business from the board meeting on May 23, Kirby Moore was unanimously approved to be the new Beckville Junior High School coach for the 2023-2024 school year. Jones made the proposal to keep Moore on a 10-month trial basis.
