Tewksbury, MA – During a topping off ceremony today, CTA Construction Co. lifted into place the last piece of steel for the Tewksbury Memorial High School, marking an important milestone in the project. Up next, workers will build exterior walls and a roof, followed by the interior construction, all to be completed by summer 2012.
The $52 million high school will cover 219,000 square feet and stand three stories tall. Located within yards of the current high school, the project presents CTA Construction with the challenge of working around the school’s schedule to minimize disruption.
“We join with school and town officials and students in marking this important milestone in the construction of the Tewksbury Memorial High School,” said Paul DuRoss, CTA’s Project Manager. “We look forward now to enclosing the structure and working on the interior of this state-of-the-art school that will surely be the pride of the community.”
A topping off ceremony is customary in the construction industry to mark the completion of a building’s framing. Often, the last piece of steel will be hoisted into place during the ceremony after it has been signed by project participants.
There are 4,200 pieces of steel weighing 1,700 tons in this structure. Work on the foundations started last December and steel erection began in February.
The new Tewksbury Memorial High School will feature a two-story, glass entryway; a full performing arts center with lighting, sound and rigging systems; and a gymnasium ringed by an elevated indoor track. Once completed, CTA will demolish the former high school, built in 1959, and build athletic fields and parking lots on the site.
Tewksbury is participating in the state’s Model Schools Program by utilizing the design of a recently built school and will reduce design costs. The building will meet the standards of the Massachusetts – Collaborative for High Performance Schools (MA-CHPS). Part of a certification program that addresses school design, construction and operation, MA-CHPS strives to make schools environmentally friendly and efficient energy, water and material efficient, well-lit, thermally comfortable, acoustically sound, safe, healthy and easy to operate.
CTA is an experienced builder of schools and municipal buildings, having completed more than $300 million worth of public construction projects in the past 10 years. CTA has more than 20 completed or ongoing school building projects in Massachusetts, including the C.W. Morey Elementary School in Lowell, the expansion of Beverly High School, the Memorial Elementary School in Burlington and the Willard Elementary School in Concord.
CTA has earned an average rating of 93 out of 100 by the Massachusetts Division of Capital Asset Management, a state agency overseeing public construction contractors.