The next steps in the conversion of the Heminway Building to the new municipal building will begin in two weeks when several offices currently already in the building will move to another section.
The $11.9 million project to transform the former school at 61 Echo Lake Road into administrative offices for the town and Board of Education is on schedule as the departments prepare for the move, Clerk of the Works Gary Martin said.
“Things have been going very smoothly,” he said. “The move is going to be a challenge, but it’s going to be OK. Everyone is going to do the whole thing again in 8-9 months.”
Half a dozen departments will be moving, according to a statement released by Town Manager Robert M. Scannell’s office Thursday, including public works, Planning and Zoning and the building department. The six departments will be moving to one section near the former gym inside the building.
“Once they move they’re going to be there until we’re pretty much finished,” Town Council Chairman Thomas Winn said. “Once the building is done, they will move into their new offices.”
The scheduled completion for the building is sometime in August, Winn said.
An addition to be constructed in the parking lot near the current Parks and Recreation department will house the tax assessors and tax collectors offices, Martin said. There will still be available parking on that side of the building despite the new addition taking up a portion of the lot, Martin said.
A second parking lot will also be built on the former basketball courts on the lower level, and a staircase will allow access to the building and current parking lot.
Burlington Construction, who has finished the first section of the building that will serve as the new Board of Education location, will focus on the addition as part of the next phase, Martin said.
“They’ve done a lot of work,” he said. “But everyone is working for the same reason, to get a nice, fine facility.”