The $65.8 million renovations to Rockwell and Johnson elementary schools are mostly complete and about $878,000 under budget. With natural light, more office and collaboration space, and other features, the buildings are major step up from before the renovations began last year, she said. Rockwell was built in 1971, while Johnson was built in 1980. The coronavirus pandemic slowed delivery of some materials, such as steel, and affected staffing due to exposures at other sites, Carver said. But it also helped workers to catch up on the schedule because they could access more parts of the buildings when students were at home, she said. A state grant covers 45 percent of eligible costs of the renovations. The project is overall under budget, but Rockwell is over estimated costs due to hazardous materials in the building being worse and more costly to remediate than expected, Carver said. These environmental issues were one of the biggest challenges from the project, she said. Johnson still has almost $1.8 million in contingency, but Rockwell is over by $313,000, according to the Public Site and Building Commission’s meeting minutes.
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