Elementary School Bulding Project Update
The yet to be named new elementary school at Fort River, as of November 2025. Photo: amherstma.gov
The Elementary School Building Committee (ESBC) held its monthly meeting on November 14, 2025. The building will soon be weather tight with one roof left to complete. Temporary heat in the building will allow interior construction work to continue through the winter. Paving of on-site roadways north and south of the building is also underway.
Accenture (the Owner’s Project Manager) is in the process of procurement for furniture and technology as well as services to relocate items from both Wildwood and Fort River. They are also lining up a testing agency that will assess the air tightness of the building at the end of construction.
Invoices for this month totaled just under $4.6 million and are comprised of the following:
$77 thousand for Accenture (OPM)
$115K thousand for DiNisco (Designers plus their consultants)
$4.4 million for CTA (General Contractor)
$12 thousand for testing
$442 for the Amherst DPW for striping of parking lots
There is $1.9 million in retainage (payments that are withheld in order to incentivize satisfactory completion of work). There remains over $10 million in “uncommitted”, or contingency, funds. Monthly expenses are expected to drop in August 2026 as the volume of work decreases.
ESBC and Amherst School Committee members will tour the site on December 9 and the next ESBC meeting is planned for mid December.
