Barnstead Municipal Building Committee

The 2007 Town meeting appropriated $260,000 for the design of a new municipal building to house the Town Offices and Police Department. The MBC has been meeting regularly to prepare for the 2008 Town Meeting as the voters requested.

The first task the MBC undertook was to get bids and hire a firm to do a Geotechnical investigation of the proposed building site. The site has been cleared of the brush to enable a good visualization of the site.  Meanwhile, the MBC worked on a “Request for Proposals” to invite reputable Construction Managers (CM) to provide pricing to design the Towns’ building.

The MBC’s approach to the project was to hire a construction manager/design team that would include the architect and engineers necessary to produce plans for the project.  The proposals requested were comprised of two phases; the design phase and the construction phase. 

The MBC and the Board of Selectmen interviewed four of the six CMs to select a design team.  North Branch Construction, Henniker, NH teamed with Udelsman Associates, Hollis, NH was selected.

Now armed with the Geotechnical report and our initial floor plan developed from the space needs study, we began meeting weekly with the design team.  The soils investigation report revealed some very vital information about our site.  The water table exists at 4 to 5 feet deep, creating some serious problems for our initial design concept; water in the basement.  The MBC had planned on using the basement as less expensive space for utility areas and other functions not requiring higher levels of finish, such as storage, training, etc.

This presented a new challenge. The choice was continuing with our original concept and incorporate expensive methods to prevent water and moisture from entering the lower level; none of them were guaranteed to work.  Or, with the expertise of the design team, a new floor plan was developed to put all the space on one level, eliminate the need for stairs and elevators and remove the water problems within the building.

The design has been developed to a point where bidding has been done to get a firm construction cost.  With these numbers in place, a GMP has been produced from which the remaining budget has been compiled.  Should the funding be approved, Phase Two would begin where the plans would be completed in a relatively short time and construction would begin.

The public hearing for the bond has been scheduled for February 5th at the Town Hall.  A complete presentation will be made including the financial aspect of the project.  The MBC will present follow up articles to help you get a good understanding of the project, its need and costs.

Mark Fraser, Co-Chair