With winter closing in on the bustling businesses and visitors to Oak Hill, the crews working to construct the new Scarborough Public Safety Building continue to be hard at work applying paint, ceramic tile, and other finishing touches on the Town’s newest asset. A collaborative effort of about 80 skilled workers each day apply their talents at the site, with dozens more in support roles ensuring deliveries of materials and other resources arrive on time to progress the work. The favorable weather from the spring, summer and fall has borne the fruit of a now watertight building, with the masonry and metal panel façade treatments nearly complete, creating a dry and warm interior environment required for applying the interior finishes. Site plantings, paving and parking lot striping were also placed during this period of fair weather such that they are in place and ready for the spring opening.

From a schedule perspective, the project is within days of its original projected end date. Throughout the course of construction, the project team overcame many challenges together in order to maintain this pace and plan. The chosen project delivery method proved itself the correct choice time and time again, and the result is a very high-quality structure that will serve the Town well for decades to come.

Financially, the project has also performed well, and is currently within 1 percent of the budget approved by the Town Council just prior to project commencement. Changes and other unforeseen items have been transparently presented, analyzed, and evaluated. In almost every instance, the Project Team also assessed alternate means, methods and materials though a value-engineering effort in order to provide the best possible result to the Town for the least expense.

Both chiefs and the town management staff keep weekly (if not daily) tabs on the progress and issues that involve the project, and together have provided the representative leadership needed to make decisions and keep the project on course. Similarly, the ad hoc building committee continues to steer and monitor the project, engaged regularly for meetings, tours, and presentations to other stakeholders.

The project team looks forward to a turn-over to the Town and occupancy in April 2020. Aside from the public safety department needs, the residents of Scarborough can look forward to the use of the large community room on the main floor of the building, helping to fulfill the much-needed space gap that currently exists. We look forward to hosting many tours and open houses once the building is ready in just a few more short months.

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