FORKS — The new Forks High School building will be “going vertical” by the end of the month.
Workers with Carlsborg-based Primo Construction Inc. prepared the ground for foundation work late last week.
This week, crews will begin pouring the concrete foundation for the $12 million project before starting the framing for the 39,500-square-foot as early as next week, said project manager Kaci Wyatt.
“We’ll be going vertical by the end of the month,” she said.
The new building will feature six classrooms outfitted with the latest technology, two resource rooms, one multipurpose room, a special-needs classroom, a band and choir room, technology lab, a health room and a library.
Most of the project is being funded by a bond issue approved by Quillayute Valley School District voters last February to replace aged and, in some cases, condemned portions of high school buildings since demolished.
At the end of last week, workers were digging holes for concrete footings, she said.
“That is for the structure that will hold up the steel columns,” Wyatt said.
Once the skeleton of the building goes up, citizens will be able to see the real outline of what the building will look like.
Construction had slowed toward the end of 2010 because of the complexity of removing utilities from the old building, which was demolished in June.
It set the schedule back slightly, but Wyatt said the contractor is already regaining any lost time.
“We are still looking at a finish date by the end of the year,” she said.
The new complex replaces portions of the high school built in 1925, the 1950s and 1960s.
Portions built in the early 2000s will be left as is.
To temporarily maintain enough classroom space for this school year, a 1963 portion of the building was left standing, but it will be demolished after the new building is finished.
In addition to the $11 million construction bond approved by voters, the state is providing $7 million.
Because the building is set back from Spartan Avenue to allow room for a pullout for buses, workers are able to work around the small facade of the 1925 building that citizens are still investigating whether to preserve.
To preserve the facade as a freestanding archway, it will cost about $300,000, the district has said.
So far, no drive for funds has started.
If the funds are not raised, portions of the terra-cotta entrance, which bears the original name of the school, Quillayute Valley High School, and the cornerstone of the building will be incorporated into the interior of the new building.
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Reporter Paige Dickerson can be reached at 360-417-3535 or at paige.dickerson@peninsuladailynews.com.
