Plum School Board approves additional services toward $30M building project

The Plum School District will pay an engineering firm about $42,000 for services related to a looming $30 million building project.

A renovation and addition is in the works for O’Block Elementary School, accounting for most of the spending, while the district’s middle school would undergo some renovations.

At a special voting meeting Tuesday, the school board approved services provided by Colliers Engineering & Design as part of the project’s schematic design phase.

In June, the board approved paying HDG Architects of Pittsburgh $242,800 for design and engineering services for the schematic design phase, which is expected to take from mid-July to October.

Colliers will perform a full site survey at O’Block, at a cost of nearly $20,000, and a partial site survey at the middle school, costing about $11,500.

The work at O’Block will include a building expansion and parking lot and playground improvements. Work at the middle school will include modifications to the track and football field.

The surveys will be completed within four weeks of when Colliers is given authorization to proceed, according to the proposals.

Colliers also will perform a geotechnical exploration at O’Block at a cost of $11,000. It will evaluate the underground conditions and provide recommendations to help in the design and construction of the proposed addition.

The work will include four test borings of up to 25 feet deep, according to the proposal. Laboratory testing will be done to evaluate the soil’s physical properties.

The firm’s report will include discussions of the site and subsurface conditions encountered, and conclusions and recommendations for the design and construction of earthwork, foundations, retaining walls and floor slabs.

A timeline for the geotechnical work was not provided in the proposal.

According to HDG’s tentative schedule, construction would start at the middle school next May, followed by the start of work at O’Block in October 2025. Work on alterations and renovations to O’Block would start in June 2026.

Work at the middle school would be finished in October 2026; O’Block would not be done until July or August 2027.