School board votes to go with construction
manager
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
At a marathon special meeting Tuesday night, the Ball-Chatham Board of Education heard from
two hopeful construction management firms and also saw several preliminary options for the new
elementary school.
Following 3 1/2 hours in regular session, the board adjourned for an hour-long closed meeting.
From that meeting, the board voted to approve going with a construction manager (CM) led approach
in building the new school, rather than the general contractor/site supervisor-led approach that was
used for Glenwood High School.
The board also authorized Supt. Bob Gillum to begin negotiations with one of the two CM finalists -
Gilbane of Chicago and Walton Group of Springfield. The top choice was not revealed publicly, for if
negotiations break down with one firm the district will turn to the second firm.
The CM will work closely with the building architect, Ittner Inc., through all phases of the project.
The CM is responsible to the school district, and will act as a "second pair of eyes" on the project. It is
expected that a member of the CM staff will be on site at all times work is being done by the
contractors.
Cost estimates were not revealed, but both presenters stated their case that the district would save
money in the long run by using the CM approach.
Both Walton Group and Gilbane gave presentations to the board. Gilbane is a national company,
with 30 offices nationwide, the closest being Chicago. They have bid 155 schools in Illinois.
Walton is a local company, and that was a big focus of their presentation.
"We are local and we are stakeholders in this community," stated Todd Walton. "We don't play
favorites, and we know the contractors you need to watch in this area."
Gilbane representatives touted their claim as being the "largest school construction manager in
the country."
Following those presentations, the board saw four preliminary building footprint options from Ittner
for the new elementary school. One of the options also included two different versions.
The board's job was to ask questions and start to narrow the focus down, with Ittner coming back
to the July 20 meeting with two different options that are tweaked to fit the board's wishes.
The board is expected to take formal action at that meeting to direct a certain design option to be
picked, but minor tweaks and changes could still be accomplished after that point.
All of the designs from Ittner had some similar characteristics. The new school will be built directly
west of Glenwood High School, on land recently purchased by the school district. The front of the
building will face either directly east or southeast.
The main entrance will be off a new road constructed from the current far west entrance to the GHS
West parking lot. That exit/entrance would be barricaded from access to GHS and allow only traffic to
and from the new school.
That could create a problem for exiting bus traffic from GHS, as well as exiting traffic during
congested times. The options may be tweaked to allow a road to connect from the West parking lot to
the elementary school road, accommodating the bus traffic.
A service road would be constructed off an extended Acacia Lane, which is located just to the west
of the proposed elementary school main entrance road. A walkway between GHS and the new school
is also planned, but there would be no direct access to each building by vehicle without going back
out to Plummer, except for the proposed connector road for buses.
Architects also presented an overall master plan for the property, should the district need to build
more schools. Those buildings would be located directly north of GHS, and a two-way, four-lane ring
road connecting Plummer and Gordon Drive/Iron Bridge would be constructed.
That ring road would involve extending the elementary school entrance road to the north and east
out to Gordon. And if that road is constructed someday, there would be a road to connect the ring road
around GHS to the ring road around the entire complex. That road would be a north/south road,
extended from near the softball field to the north.
Issues dealing with parking lots, entrances, drop-off points and classroom configurations on the
inside of the new school were all discussed and will be tweaked. The board picked two options and
now Ittner will come back with more detailed plans and adjusted schemes.
manager
By Joe Pritchett
Clarion Editor
At a marathon special meeting Tuesday night, the Ball-Chatham Board of Education heard from
two hopeful construction management firms and also saw several preliminary options for the new
elementary school.
Following 3 1/2 hours in regular session, the board adjourned for an hour-long closed meeting.
From that meeting, the board voted to approve going with a construction manager (CM) led approach
in building the new school, rather than the general contractor/site supervisor-led approach that was
used for Glenwood High School.
The board also authorized Supt. Bob Gillum to begin negotiations with one of the two CM finalists -
Gilbane of Chicago and Walton Group of Springfield. The top choice was not revealed publicly, for if
negotiations break down with one firm the district will turn to the second firm.
The CM will work closely with the building architect, Ittner Inc., through all phases of the project.
The CM is responsible to the school district, and will act as a "second pair of eyes" on the project. It is
expected that a member of the CM staff will be on site at all times work is being done by the
contractors.
Cost estimates were not revealed, but both presenters stated their case that the district would save
money in the long run by using the CM approach.
Both Walton Group and Gilbane gave presentations to the board. Gilbane is a national company,
with 30 offices nationwide, the closest being Chicago. They have bid 155 schools in Illinois.
Walton is a local company, and that was a big focus of their presentation.
"We are local and we are stakeholders in this community," stated Todd Walton. "We don't play
favorites, and we know the contractors you need to watch in this area."
Gilbane representatives touted their claim as being the "largest school construction manager in
the country."
Following those presentations, the board saw four preliminary building footprint options from Ittner
for the new elementary school. One of the options also included two different versions.
The board's job was to ask questions and start to narrow the focus down, with Ittner coming back
to the July 20 meeting with two different options that are tweaked to fit the board's wishes.
The board is expected to take formal action at that meeting to direct a certain design option to be
picked, but minor tweaks and changes could still be accomplished after that point.
All of the designs from Ittner had some similar characteristics. The new school will be built directly
west of Glenwood High School, on land recently purchased by the school district. The front of the
building will face either directly east or southeast.
The main entrance will be off a new road constructed from the current far west entrance to the GHS
West parking lot. That exit/entrance would be barricaded from access to GHS and allow only traffic to
and from the new school.
That could create a problem for exiting bus traffic from GHS, as well as exiting traffic during
congested times. The options may be tweaked to allow a road to connect from the West parking lot to
the elementary school road, accommodating the bus traffic.
A service road would be constructed off an extended Acacia Lane, which is located just to the west
of the proposed elementary school main entrance road. A walkway between GHS and the new school
is also planned, but there would be no direct access to each building by vehicle without going back
out to Plummer, except for the proposed connector road for buses.
Architects also presented an overall master plan for the property, should the district need to build
more schools. Those buildings would be located directly north of GHS, and a two-way, four-lane ring
road connecting Plummer and Gordon Drive/Iron Bridge would be constructed.
That ring road would involve extending the elementary school entrance road to the north and east
out to Gordon. And if that road is constructed someday, there would be a road to connect the ring road
around GHS to the ring road around the entire complex. That road would be a north/south road,
extended from near the softball field to the north.
Issues dealing with parking lots, entrances, drop-off points and classroom configurations on the
inside of the new school were all discussed and will be tweaked. The board picked two options and
now Ittner will come back with more detailed plans and adjusted schemes.
Chatham Clarion
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Issue Date: July 2, 2009