Prince Frederick, MD – The plan to rebuild Northern High School (NHS) in Owings will have to wait a year, Calvert County Public Schools (CCPS) officials announced Thursday, Feb. 19.
During a Calvert County Board of Education (BOE) work session CCPS’ Director of School Construction George Leah Jr. presented five bid submissions for the NHS Replacement Project. All of the bids were substantially over budget. School officials had budgeted $65 million for the project. The submitted bids, which included additions and renovations to the adjacent Mary Harrison Center, ranged from $76.3 million to $86.18 million.
“Due to budgetary constraints, no award for the Northern High School Replacement Project is recommended at this time,” Leah stated. The school board accepted the recommendation and voted to delay the construction project.
During a telephone interview with The Bay Net Friday, Feb. 20, Leah stated that the project designer will consider modifications to the project. “There will be options,” said Leah. “Some could be a silver lining.”
The project designer is GWWO Architects.
As far as the status of the state construction funding that was previously procured for the NHS project, Leah said that would not be an issue and state school construction officials have been alerted about the situation.
Regarding the need for a one-year delay, Leah indicated there was still a lot of work to be done at the project site before any construction activity could start.
Leah said he would probably have options for the BOE to consider sometime in March.
The NHS replacement will be built next to the existing building, which will be demolished to make room for a parking area. The student capacity will increase by over 250 to 1,500.
The new building will meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com