Greetings Middlesex parents and families:
As many of you know, we utilize the months of June, July and August when students are not in residence to perform extensive preventive and deferred maintenance on campus. Our buildings, lawns and trees are beautiful, and our Facilities & Operations group (which each summer includes several student workers!) works tirelessly to make necessary repairs and coordinate more extensive upgrades to systems. The summer of 2014 was no different, and in addition to the "behind the scenes" work, you will see direct evidence of their efforts when you return to campus next month.
First, full renovations of Robert Winsor and LeBaron Briggs dorms are nearly complete. As I write this update, doors are being hung in student rooms, tile is being installed in student bathrooms, and paint is now covering the walls of the new common rooms. Faculty apartments are also taking shape with new kitchen cabinets being installed this week in preparation for Faculty move-in over Labor Day weekend. The temporary access road behind is being de-mobilized and sod installation will begin the week of August 18th to repair the Boys' and Girls' varsity soccer fields and the football practice area.
As you drive along Lowell Road between the School's two gates, you will also notice significant progress towards the restoration of the Paine Barn Framers have leveled the entire first floor of the barn, and the roof and siding has been removed and replaced. Foundations for the lower level of the Barn, and for the new Facilities Administration building have been poured. This project will be completed on November 1, and our Facilities team will take residence in November and December as we prepare the existing Facilities building for transition to the Music/Campus Center.
We have also made significant progress on the re-pointing and repair of Orr Gym; new windows have been installed on the façade facing the fields, cornices have been re-painted and masonry repaired and cleaned. This work is the first phase of a multi-year project to maintain the exterior facades of some of our oldest and most beautiful buildings. In our ongoing efforts to improve energy efficiency, we have also insulated Atkins Cage. This project provided a 25x improvement in the R value for the roof surface, and has allowed us to install a new speaker system for the cage.
Smaller projects have also improved classroom spaces (notably in the English wing) added some new Faculty office space in the library, and installed new high resiliency flooring in the Chapel. We hope you enjoy the improvements, and welcome your questions anytime -
Matt Crozier
Chief Operating Officer