Steering Committee Updates

September 1, 2010:  It may be dry as a bone in the rest of Shreveport, but torrents of water will pour down on the roof of the sanctuary the last week of August.  Our water intrusion consultant will be on our campus this week with pumps, hoses and water to “make rain” in order to test our new sanctuary roof for any remaining leaks.  The work on the Children’s Building continues to be on schedule.  Some plumbing and lighting fixtures may be a little slow in arriving, but the building should be ready to go in time for commencement of First Presbyterian Day School and the resumption of our regular fall schedule at church.  The choir will be pleased to know that Holly has settled on the new chairs for them and that they have been ordered.  Later in the fall, the plants in the memorial courtyard at the rear of the church will be removed to a nursery in order to prepare for the work to be done in that area.  The nursery will care for them until such time as the property to the west of the church has been cleared of vines and underbrush and they can be re-planted there.The church has completed the purchase of the missing piece of the property to the west of the building.  We look forward to clearing that property of vines and underbrush later in the project and all the new possibilities afforded by this new open, green space.  

 

 

August 12, 2010:  McInnis Brothers gave the Steering Committee a detailed schedule of work planned for the next couple of weeks.  The work in the CE building is continuing and is still on schedule to be completed in time for the opening of the First Presbyterian Day School and the resumption of our regular church program in September.   Loads and loads and loads of dirt have been moved onsite for the construction of the west driveway.   Work in the sanctuary is moving along nicely, and the painting of the sanctuary is under way.   The restored rose window in the chapel is returning the week of August 16 and should be re-installed by the end of next week.  You can view the McInnis Brothers "look ahead" Work Schedule here.  Please note, the schedule and timeline provided are subject to change.    

 

August 2, 2010:  Work continues in the CE Building, and McInnis Brothers feels like the construction is on schedule for a completion of the first phase of work in the CE Building in time  for the start-up of First Presbyterian Day School and the resumption of our regular program in September.

 

The restoration of the rose window in the chapel is almost complete, and Lynchburg Stained Glass expects to be delivering and re-installing the rose window in the next few weeks.  We are  in contact with the same company about restoration of the window that came from the original downtown church and has been located in the west of the stairwell in the main building.  This company estimates that the window is over 100 years old and will be good for another 100 years after their restoration work. The restored window will be re-installed in its new location in the new church library and will be the prominent feature of the new main point of entry into the church through the rear courtyard.  The cost for this restoration work is $26,500.  

 

Several paint and carpet options for the sanctuary are being reviewed by the steering committee and Brett Rowell’s construction oversight sub-committee, and decisions concerning paint, carpet and chancel flooring in the sanctuary will be made in the next couple of weeks.  

 

The cost of restoring and rewiring the sanctuary fans was prohibitive, so the old fans will have to be replaced with suitable new fans.  

 

There will be new sound systems in the sanctuary, chapel and gym/lecture hall, and the steering committee reviewed proposals for the sanctuary sound system at its last meeting.  High quality and simplicity of operation are the primary requirements for the systems that will be installed in these areas.

 

July 21, 2010: The Steering Committee for the Fulfilling the Vision campaign has moved from meeting every week to every other week.  Brett Rowell and members of his building oversight sub-committee (along with Vernon Chance) are meeting weekly with the architect and contractor representatives to assess the status of the work and to go over any areas of particular interest or concern in the project

 

During any renovation project of this size, “change orders” come up from time to time as unanticipated work or problems are encountered or ways to reduce cost become apparent.  Asbestos abatement problems in our project have occasioned some change orders that have resulted in increases to the cost of the project.  But we’ve also had change orders that resulted in cost savings in the project, e.g. finding that we were able to re-use duct work in the sanctuary at a savings of $9,732.  

 

In the original budgeting process, we used “allowances” for a few areas of work where we didn’t have any actual cost data.  One area was the work in the chancel area for which we allocated an allowance of $225,000.  When that work was actually bid, the cost to do the work came in at $191,544. Similarly, we had an allowance for furnishings of $215,000 in the original budget.  Due to efforts by Mary Anne Selber and Jean Sayres to identify re-usable furniture, the actual cost of new furniture will be substantially less than the allowance, perhaps in the neighborhood of $168,000.  We will continue to rigorously monitor the cost of the project.