By Sarah Campbell
scampbell@salisburypost.com
SALISBURY — If things go as planned, the Rowan-Salisbury School System’s new central office will be complete by February 2014.
That’s what architect Bill Burgin said Tuesday during a meeting of the school board’s building and grounds subcommittee.
“I know that seems like a long time away, but trust me, it will go fast,” he said.
Burgin, of Ramsay, Burgin, Smith Architects, expects to have his drawings completed by September so they can be sent to the inspection department for approval.
The project will then be bid out for a period of 60 days as required by law.
Construction at the 300 block of South Main Street in downtown Salisbury will take about 15 months, Burgin said.
But Burgin said even though four members of his team have been working “feverishly” on the project for about five weeks, there is still work to be done.
He presented designs of the building Tuesday, asking for feedback from school officials.
“We need to know whether or not the elevations are pretty much like you hope and expect,” Burgin said. “This is beyond ideas. These are things that may happen or may need to be changed to be done in a different way.”
The plans Burgin presented Tuesday are for a three-story, 48,717-square-foot building.
According to a space needs survey, Burgin said the district could use a 62,610-square-foot building, but that isn’t feasible with a $6 million budget. It would cost about $7.5 million to construct a facility of that size, which Burgin has created as an alternate plan.
Burgin has designed the building with future expansion in mind, including offices for the exceptional children’s department. Until more space is added, that department will work out of the Ellis Street Administrative Office, moving from a rented space at Corporate Square.
The first floor of the building will house the human resources and finance departments as well as a 3,252-square-foot multi-purpose board room that can be partitioned into three meeting spaces for teacher training and events.
The second floor will include the following departments: student services, curriculum, Title I and school improvement, English as a second language and AIG, which stands for academically and intellectually gifted.
Superintendent Dr. Judy Grissom’s office, which will be 310 square feet and include a 63-square-foot private bathroom, will also be housed on the second floor.
The information technology, assessment and accountability, faculties management and risk management departments will make up the third floor.
An 878-square-foot common storage area, 480-square-foot common workroom and 892-square-foot common training room will be on both the second and third floors.
The building will have three staff lounges: a 264-square-foot space on the ground floor, 300 square feet on the second floor and 457 square feet on the third floor.
Burgin had originally planned for the building to be topped with a dome similar to the one at the N.C. Research Campus in Kannapolis, but that would cost an additional $100,000.
“It is a nice visual feature, it kind of trademarks the building entry,” he said. “We tried to make the building so it can live without it because the truth of the matter is that it may have to, but we like it.”
Grissom said Burgin’s off to a “very good start.”
“There are some places we can fine tune that I think will help,” she said.
Burgin asked Grissom to have each department head review the plans “very closely” within the next week.
“If I missed something they need to mark it,” he said. “We need to keep moving.”
Contact reporter Sarah Campbell at 704-797-7683.
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