Contractor chosen for new elementary school
The exterior look of the new south elementary begins to take shape featuring finishes such as slat-wall panels, masonry and brick veneers and weathering steel in this latest rendering presented to school board trustees by Dani Grebe, project architect with L'Heureux Page Werner on Tuesday.
The exterior look of the new south elementary begins to take shape, featuring finishes such as slat-wall panels, masonry and brick veneers and weathering steel in this latest rendering presented to school board trustees by Dani Grebe, project architect with L’Heureux Page Werner on April 11.
Langlas and Associates will serve as the general contractor and construction manager for the $15.2 million new south elementary school to be constructed on Airport Road in Kalispell.
The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees selected the company, which has offices in Billings, Bozeman and Missoula, last week.
Martel Construction and Swank Enterprises also were considered for the position.
The school will be built through a construction-manager-at-risk delivery method. When time is of the essence to open the school by August 2018, a benefit to the construction-manager-at-risk delivery method allows phases of construction to start earlier instead of sequentially as in the traditional “design-bid-build” method in which a contractor isn't selected until the bid phase after design specifications are set.
Through this delivery method the general contractor is involved in the pre-construction design phase. The general contractor collaborates with architects and provides cost estimates before design is completed in an effort to control costs.
Langlas and Associates' resume includes the $23 million Whitefish High School expansion and renovation project completed in 2014.
Heading up the Langlas team is Senior Project Manager Loren Cantrell and Project Manager Joe Clark. Cantrell also served as senior project manager for the Whitefish High School construction project.
“We need to hit the ground running has been the common theme,” Cantrell said to trustees. “I think the design development documents on the architectural side are ready for us to start looking at and developing cost estimates.”
Dani Grebe, project architect with L'Heureux Page Werner was happy to report that a meeting with the city of Kalispell had gone well.
“We met with the city and we presented the architectural review package, so their design review board process, essentially, they approved it without any conditions,” Grebe said.
Trustees also selected Kalispell-based LHC's bid to install and extend utilities and build an access road to the north of the school site. LHC's bid came in at $916,577, which was below engineers' estimate of $1,024,204. Included in the bid package is a 5 percent contingency fund.
The city of Kalispell is also anticipated to contribute $135,426 to the utilities project that will extend water, sewer and street access to the school site.
Other bids received for the utility extension package were AGC and Downing Underground Construction.
The new school is part of a $25.3 million elementary district bond. The remainder of the bond will be used to renovate the district's five existing elementary schools.
Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.