WHS Construction Makes the Grade

If renovations were scored like standardized tests, then Wilton High School's facilities would have a lot in common with its students. That is, they'd do very well.

The construction on WHS is about 90 percent complete, within its $20.3 million budget, and ahead of schedule. In touring the grounds on Tuesday, it was apparent that the changes will not only dramatically improve the student (and faculty) experience in the present, but are forward-thinking and should exceed the school's needs for years to come.

"The construction was in mind with where we want to take the program," said Jim Luckey, the chair of the Science Department.  "I've been here twenty plus years and this is well beyond my expectations."

There were three major components to the renovations: an overhaul of the Science wing, the installation of a much-needed, school-wide ventilation system, and extensive improvements to a school auditorium. Offshoots to these plans were increasing the school's energy efficiency, redoing the facility's roof (which was done in tandem with work to install the HVAC-heating, ventilation, air conditioning-system), and electrical improvements and rewiring.

The HVAC installation accounted for approximately 50 percent of the entire budget, with around $2 million going toward an elaborate system of ducts that required special construction provisions. The previous ventilation system was 37 years old and so antiquated that the school had trouble getting service contracts for repairs.

Like much of the recent work, the HVAC system was considered for an overhaul when WHS conducted a major expansion from 1998-'00, but the school system did not have the resources at that time to make all the necessary improvements.  They began discussing the current plan in 2004 and began the process in earnest in the summer of '07, when the Board of Selectmen instituted its first capital process.

"I think we benefited from the process," said Board of Education Chairman Karen Birck. "We were faced with needs in both the theatre and science rooms, which caused us to look very carefully at what we needed to do...there was a special town meeting in September of 2008 to approve the necessary bonding for the project and after the approval, the construction was preceded by 24 weeks of design work."

That design work had to factor in new state requirements for the ventilation system, including noise reduction and a capacity to deliver seven times the amount of air previously necessitated by code. The result, a synthesis of several different contractors' input and efforts, is an HVAC system run almost entirely by a state-of-the-art computer system that can measure CO2 levels in individual rooms and adjust airflow accordingly, and may save the town as much as $31k a year due to its energy efficiency, plus an additional $83k CL&P rebate that was approved last week.

"We are minimizing, across the board, the amount of energy we are using," said Bruce Hampson of the Building Committee.  "I think our building will now be one of the most energy efficient in the state."

The Science wing has been completely redone, now with nine classrooms (one 1,100 sq. ft., three 900 sq. ft., and five 1,200 sq. ft.).  Among their many new features, the classrooms are equipped with storage spaces that double as whiteboards (many did not have whiteboards previously), overhead projectors, flatscreen TVs, movable work tables, dedicated lecture areas, and even ceiling-based retractable convenience outlets, which eliminate the need for dangerous serpentine extension cords and provide power wherever it is needed.

Little Theater improvements abound, as well, with all-new seating at around a 250-person capacity (including new handicap-accessible areas), two acoustic "clouds" designed to dampen and provide better sound quality, and new lighting, sound, and rigging systems. The old orchestra pit was also filled in so as to extend the stage space, since the Clune Arts Center now houses larger-scale performances that feature musical accompaniment.

"The construction started at three o'clock on June 19 when we turned the school over to Turner Construction," Birck said. "We opened on time on August 31, as planned, and we expect 100 percent completion by November."

Originally, the school expected renovations to continue into the end of December, with work crews coming in during the second shift after students left for the day. But construction is now well ahead of schedule and this is in light of some significant alterations to the original plan, such as the unexpected need to re-tar a roof that was initially thought to be made of asphalt.

"With any renovation project, you have to anticipate the unforeseen," said Ty Tregellas, Project Executive for the Turner Construction Company. "You just have to work around it and we were able to do that."

On the whole, the WHS renovations were completed in a "mere ten weeks of intesnse construction activity," that featured "fifteen different trades and up to 170 workers...on the job at a given time," according to a Building Committee release.