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Morgan School Projects Celebrates Topping Off

On April 9, the steelworkers placed the final piece of steel into place on the new Morgan School site. With the frame of the building complete, a topping-off ceremony was held to celebrate.

“This is a traditional steelworkers’ commemoration of the last piece of steel being put into place,” said Superintendent of Schools Jack Cross. “Essentially it signifies the completion of the core structure and ultimately the highest segment of the building being finished.”

At the topping-off ceremony, a small evergreen tree was placed at the top of the beam, along with a banner with The Morgan School logo that has been signed by the students and staff at The Morgan School, the team at Newman Architects, FIP Construction and Management Group, and members of the Board of Selectmen, the Board of Finance, the Board of Education, and the Building Committee.

“It’s really neat looking at it now,” said Gerry Vece, chairman of the Building Committee. “The banner will be hung in the building for a while and then hopefully placed in a time capsule to be saved for a couple of generations.”

The steel work began in January, and the frame now consists of 766 tons of steel placed by 2,300 crane-made picks. Despite the challenging conditions this winter presented, the steel work has been completed on time.

“I’m excited about how it looks now but really excited about how it will be when it’s finished,” said Vece. “Kudos to the crews out there working through this horrible winter. They worked through some tough conditions to be able to finish on time, and FIP and the subcontractors deserve a lot of praise for the work they’ve done.”

With the framework complete, the next step is beginning to enclose the building, pouring the concrete floors, and working on the walls. Vece noted that the building is expected to be “weather-tight and closed in” by October, when the inside work will continue. The school is expected to be complete in June 2016.

In addition to work on the building, the landscaping is starting to take shape, the tennis court construction is underway, and work on the fields will begin later this spring.

“Everything is going well with the project,” said Vece. “We can go on the different floors and see the views they’ll have and they’re beautiful. Everything is starting to take shape, we’ve got a nice crew working on it, and we’re very happy.”