March 7th, 2024
Notes from a construction project moving closer to starting…
Construction Finishes - On March 3rd, the Property Committee reviewed HY’s recommended finishes––the tile for the bathrooms, carpet for the undercroft rooms, paint colors, etc.––the most outward face of the construction work. HY was working from the “warm” palette chosen earlier and offered materials with gray, blue, green and terracotta accents. Soon the Property Committee will be conferring with the Kitchen and Undercroft user groups to consider the options. Special consideration is being given to the look and feel of the materials used in the Chapel as a holy space to make sure it offers an inviting interior.
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Some big milestones are coming up:
March 19th - Plan comments are due. The City of Berkeley is expected to offer its 1st set of
comments on our construction permit application on March 19th. This will be the first indication of whether Berkeley will require sprinklers as part of the Living Waters work and a first chance for the building department to comment generally about other changes they may require. Sprinklers are not currently in the budget and could cost between $250,000 and $400,000. Incorporating their cost would require rebalancing the financial equation. The permit application can be a back and forth dialog at this stage. The construction permit could be approved as early as the end of April.
April 4 - Subcontractor bids are due. Over the next few weeks subcontractors will be visiting the site and preparing their bids. Until now the budgets have been based on Rough Order of Magnitude (ROM) estimates that are industry estimates, but not from the subcontractor who will do the actual work and not based on the actual space. Starting on April 4th, we will have much firmer numbers. During the week of April 8th the Property Committee will sit down with WCI and work through the bids and scope one line at a time to create a firm construction budget. This is the moment when we see how close our previous cost estimates have been and whether the work we have anticipated fits within our financial resources.
In late April, the Vestry will consider a Property Committee recommendation on the budget and scope of the Living Waters projects. This will be the final pre-construction approval and will define the path we take moving forward.
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Living Waters has always promised there will be disruption in the process of renewing the space. And disruption is on the horizon! At the moment, WCI is scheduled to begin mobilization and demolition around late May or early June. They need a clear work space to do that efficiently and our stuff needs to be out. We are targeting being cleared out of the Undercroft by mid-May.
All Souls is close to announcing the Almost Annual Parish Workday to make this move-out easy and smooth. Soon there will be a call for volunteers who can come together at church to tend to the building. We will need people to help sort, pack and move boxes in the undercroft and kitchen to temporary storage and clean and rearrange in the Parish Hall and other spaces. This can be an easy and hands-on way to prepare for the renewal of construction.
Look for more details soon!
– Richard Lynch