CTA Ready for First Day of Class – Designed by Knight, Bagge & Anderson

Burlington, MA – The countdown to the first day of the school year has begun, and CTA Construction Co. Inc. will hand over the keys to the new Memorial Elementary School well before the first bell rings in September.
The new 500-student Memorial Elementary School, occupying 78,500sf, went up directly in front of the existing school it will replace. Started last March, CTA’s crew put the finishing touches on the $17 million facility by the middle of July.
Designed by Knight, Bagge & Anderson Inc., the facility offers pre-school, kindergarten and grades one through five classrooms, a gymnasium, cafeteria, library and media center, art room, music room and administrative offices.
Waltham-based CTA is turning its attention to the second phase of the project, tearing down the 1950s-era school behind the new building. In addition, CTA is also the general contractor on the renovation and expansion of the Marshall Simonds Elementary School directly across the street from the Memorial Elementary.
“At CTA, we value our partnerships with the building owners, and our working relationship with Burlington has been outstanding. We have been able to keep this project ahead of schedule and under budget because of the leadership and cooperation of Burlington school officials,” said Ed Pereira, CTA’s project manager on Memorial Elementary.
Built in the 1950s and never significantly upgraded, the old Memorial Elementary School lacked adequate classroom space, fire protection systems and handicapped accessibility, and had outdated mechanical, heating and plumbing systems. The new Memorial Elementary School is the first new school built in Burlington since the high school in 1972.
With demolition of the old building, the completed site will include playing fields, landscaping, expanded parking, dedicated bus traffic access and handicap access. Demolition and site work are scheduled for completion by the end of the year.
Across Winn Street from the new Memorial Elementary School, CTA is already underway on a $21 million makeover of the Marshall Simonds Middle School. The middle school project includes building a new two-story addition with a prominent entryway and classrooms. It also includes phased renovations to the existing 50-year old facility with extensive upgrades to all the classrooms.
With more than 20 school building projects completed or under construction, CTA Construction has completed more than $450 million in public projects in the past decade. Highlights of the $21 million Marshall Simonds project include:
– A two-story, 37,000sf front entrance addition with science classrooms, and administrative, health and guidance offices.
– Floor-to-ceiling renovations of 118,000-square-feet classrooms including new floors and ceilings, lighting, fire protection, HVAC, furniture, technology, as well as fresh paint.
– Three connecting corridors constructed to improve building flow.
– Two outdoor courtyards that can be used as classrooms and to grow plants as part of the science classes.
The Marshall Simonds project is slated for a Spring 2013 finish.