In addition, the board at its March 4 meeting approved a change order for construction costs at Cline Elementary School due to unforeseen expenses that are needed for the building to meet fire code.
The gist
After a recent inspection made by fire marshals, it was determined that the Performing Arts Center, or PAC, at Friendswood High School is not fireproofed. The PAC has been undergoing construction since spring 2022 and is expected to be complete by the end of April, according to district documents.
In order to find a solution, Greg Prince, an architect for PBK, which is overseeing the construction at FISD, is reaching out to multiple resources to ensure that the fire safety at Friendswood High School’s PAC is satisfactory.
He said at the board’s March 4 meeting he reached out to the International Code Council, an organization with building safety professionals, and the council’s fire protection engineers to see how a fire would act in this building.
Quote of note
Although Prince ensured the PAC will be safe, he said it’s difficult to deal with fireproofing issues so close to the building’s completion deadline, which is April 26, district documents show.
“The reason there’s a complication is because of the timing of it,” Prince said at the meeting. “Originally when this building was permitted over two years ago, those [fireproofing] comments weren’t there, so now that we have the comments with the Performing Arts Center nearing completion, the ability of the contractor to go back and add that fireproofing is exponentially more difficult.”
What else?
The change order for the construction costs at Cline Elementary School amounts to about $111,000, which will increase the total construction contract amount to about $36.28 million, according to district documents.
The order will account for additional funds needed for multiple unspecified fire marshal items, and costs for an unexpected need to extend the district’s use of auxiliary power, which was expected to be temporary, Superintendent Thad Roher said at the meeting.
After these changes are addressed, the project for Cline Elementary School will have no further construction costs, according to district documents.
