3/14/1995 SCHOOL - HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE Minutes

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MA HPEE HIGH SCHOOL BUILDING COMMITTEE Tuesday, March 1 4F 1 995 Page 11 25 computers, because if one head goes off, you have lost $100,000 worth of equipment and many Fire Chiefs will allow some sort of slack so that you are not put in that position. He has received a waiver in the past on that type of issue. These rooms could be tied in with the smoke detector or wire heat protector instead. Phil asked where would you stop, as there are two computer rooms on the second floor of the Academic wing, but there are also three business ed rooms, and also CAD, so you can end up with about 10 rooms that are literally full of computers. Paul suggested to lay out the question to the Fire chief and let him determine which roams, if any, he would allow such a waiver. Merry Sue asked to respond to Bill's earlier question regarding the moisture proofing of the concrete. She read from the spec in the Unit Masonry where it indicated the procedure for testing of the concrete. Bill stated they wanted to make sure that the vapor and water barrier is in it and suggested to take some piece of the material and have it tested. Merry Sue stated that it is the contractor's responsibility to do just that. Bill explained his caution by giving an example of an instance where the contractor did not fulfill his responsibility. Ed stated that their approach to contract documents is to identify those items that often times there are problems with, Bill asked for Tory's recommendation. Tony explained that the block manufacturer has all the testing documentation and will provide the contractor with his documentation and the contractor will then provide it to the architect. He stated that there are only 3 block contractors in southern New England and they are all going to be straight up with it. He stated that it becomes more of an installation problem not a material problem. Phil stated that there are requirements for the mortar, and it is up to the owner to do testing of that as part of the normal construction process similar to the way concrete and steel testing is done and we have a budget for construction phase testing and the testing is done by an independent testing agency which reports directly to the owner. Paul brought up the issue about the finishes in the bathrooms. He read the finish document again and toured other facilities and reported that any area that contained items made out of stainless steel, was destroyed. He cited the example of his tour of the Springfield school. He raises the question of why they were buying these items if in 5 - 8 gears they will rewire replacing. Merry Sue stated that in her old school they held up well except for the soap dispensers. Janice also stated that Mashpee Middle School's were okay. Ed stated that they had different standards for urban schools for suburban schools: citing example of the Chelsea school. Paul expressed his concern of spending all of this money on nice items and then they get destroyed. Merry Sue said it was her experience that only the soap dispensers posed a problem. Phil asked if local health officials allow for bar soap to which the Committee responded that they would not. The Committee briefly discussed this issue. Ed suggested that they look at the soap dispenser issue separate from the other stainless steel items. He suggested they talk with Linc and find out if they can get some indication if he feels what they have experienced in other schools would probably occur here. Paul also suggested speaking with the maintenance guy to hear his views. Steve asked if the contractor was going to be able to pull the dimensions off of the CAD drawing format. Phil stated that the drawings that they are using to build the project from, they should be using paper documents so that everyone is working from the same thing. He said they can use the CAD drawings for purposes of record drawings. He does not want the contractor manipulating the files and reprinting. Then there would be drawings other than the what the contract drawings were. Steve stated that he has experienced that the ability of the contractor to utilize the CAD drawings for dimensions in the past has been helpful. Paul stated that they can get CAD drawing disks at the end. Ed stated that they have a long list of disclaimers that have to be adhered to because it would open up a Pandora's box to allow this. Steve agreed but suggested to allow the clerk to take dimensions from the CAD details. Shannon recommended this not be allowed. Ed stated that they absolutely do not want there to be making measurements on their own from the CACI drawings. Steve suggested setting up a process for a request for information, which could be numbered and