Claiborne Pell Elementary School

In April 2012 Bacon Construction Company Inc. (BCC) broke ground on a major institutional project in Newport, R.I. “We are building a brand new elementary school,” says Kathleen Labouliere, executive manager on the Claiborne Pell Elementary School (CPE) project. “The CPE will be a 103,000-square foot, two-story school. We are working closely with the Newport School Department, Farrar and Associates and HMFH Architects to provide the district with a state-of-the-art school they can be proud of; substantial completion is slated for June 2013, and final completion will be July 2013.”

BCC is the general contractor on the CPE project, self-performing some work and overseeing crews of subcontractors. According to Labouliere, the contract is for $25 million and the district will be furnishing the school under a separate contract. The new building is going up on the former site of the Sullivan School, and the new CPE is designed with modern amenities and consists of two classroom wings attached to a central core that will house the gymnasium, cafeteria, kitchen, media center and administrative offices.

Project Details

Labouliere is proud to note that the project is moving along expediently. Steel framing went up in fall 2012, and since then BCC has focused on keeping the trades in step with the project and each other. “We self-performed all of the foundation work,” she explains. “We are also doing some of the window and roof blocking and will perform some of the miscellaneous carpentry work.”

Labouliere acknowledges that having a good crew is vital to the success of any project. “Our partnerships with subcontractors are extremely important,” Labouliere notes. “We review the bids and the scopes with the various subcontractors bidding the different portions of the work and award the contracts accordingly. The plan for any successful project is to have a group of subcontractors that work together as a team. Teamwork is the key to a successful project. In this case, we have a solid team. We have a good work atmosphere on this site.”

As of March 2013, masonry on the building was 90 percent complete and roofing was well underway. On the school’s interior BCC is now finishing up framing in all sections. “Finishes are underway for wing A; interior framing and drywall is well underway in B wing and moving toward C wing,” Labouliere details. The team is amid inspections of various areas of the building.

Making Adjustments

BCC performs primarily school and higher education contracts, with the entirety of the company’s work located within Massachusetts and Rhode Island. “We have found our niche in school construction,” notes Labouliere. She is proud to say that her team has the leading experience in the region for institutional construction, as BCC often has several school projects in full swing at a time.

No matter what kind of challenges a project presents, Labouliere reports that she has one key performance indicator across the board. “I look to see if the end-user is happy,” she states. “A truly successful project is when the end user is completely happy and satisfied with the end result.”

Client satisfaction has been a major factor in establishing BCC’s reputation. The crew stands by quality construction management and workmanship. Labouliere is used to trouble shooting, as every project comes with bumps along the way. “We had some design issues at the beginning,” she says of CPE. “The first bid was over budget, the architect and the owner had to make some value engineering changes to bring it within the approved budget. The revised drawings were issued in December 2011 and bids were due in February 2012. BCC was the low bidder and was awarded the project in March 2012; we had 16 months to complete the 103,000-square-foot school. We have been on a tight schedule for the entire project.”

With all of the ups and downs, BCC is still on track for completion on time. Labouliere’s dedication to the project combines well with her crew’s ability to work together. The team is pulling hard, and come July 2013 BCC will present a brand new school to the Newport school district.

BCC excels at project management, and under the company’s guidance, teams of subcontractors and loyal field personnel have succeeded in communicating to keep the entire project moving efficiently. Bacon Construction Company Inc. continues to build on an existing reputation for top-of-the-line institutional building, championing a sense of pride in work and a shared goal of building great educational facilities for students in New England.

For more information about Bacon Construction Company Inc., please visit: http://www.baconconstruction.com.