School Board awards contract to build new Masons Cove Elementary School
The Roanoke County School Board has awarded a $9.8 million dollar contract to G&H Contracting of Salem to build an entirely new Masons Cove Elementary School. Construction on the new school is set to begin in late winter or early spring 2010. The board also approved additional project items such as architectural and engineering design services as well as other costs including furniture, fixtures, testing and technology, bringing the total project cost to nearly $12.1 million.
The new school will be located behind the existing building, where the baseball field currently is located. Once the new school has been completed by winter 2012, the old school building will be demolished and will be replaced by a new baseball field.
The School Board first recognized the need to renovate or replace Masons Cove Elementary several years ago due to the building’s age, deteriorating condition and poor energy efficiency. “The school was built in 1961 and still has a coal-fired boiler,” said Roanoke County Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Lorraine Lange. “We’re pleased we are able to move forward to address the needs of this school community,” Lange said.
“We initially considered a renovation and expansion project for Masons Cove,” said Catawba District school board member David Wymer. “We quickly discovered that building an entirely new school would be more cost-effective and give us the opportunity to take advantage of some new energy-efficient building designs. This will be one of the most energy-efficient school buildings in Virginia,” Wymer said.
Designed by RRMM architects, the new Masons Cove will use many aspects of “green” building technology including geothermal heating and cooling, solar power and natural lighting. In addition, the project will make use of new advances in stormwater management, making a retention pond unnecessary.
Thanks to extremely competitive bids for four other renovation/expansion projects currently underway, Roanoke County Public Schools will not need to secure additional funding through bonds. “We’re getting five projects for what it would have cost to fund four projects last year,” said Penny Hodge, assistant superintendent of finance.
(Last updated 12/10/09)