PORTLAND — Facing high construction costs and a limited budget, architects said they had to do some creative thinking when it came to designing the new footprint for Lyseth Elementary School.

Lyseth is the first school to be tackled under a $64 million capital bond passed by voters in November 2017 that seeks to substantially renovate and upgrade four of the city’s elementary schools. The other three are Longfellow, Presumpscot and Reiche.

The total budget for Lyseth is $15.2 million, according to Mark Lee at Harriman Associates architects, but when various service fees and contingency funds are deducted, that only leaves about $11.8 million for actual construction.

Included in the non-construction costs are a contingency fund of nearly $1.2 million to cover any unexpected expenses, the base architect fee, which is nearly $986,000, and $125,000 for the project manager’s salary.

Service fees include legal and insurance costs, permitting, land surveying and soil testing, according to materials provided to the School Board by Harriman at a Dec. 18 workshop on the Lyseth project.

“We don’t want to get to the last project and have no money left or shortchange the last school, but we’ve also recently seen tremendous increases in construction costs, so as we pared down the square footage we did have to eliminate some items that were in the original concept design,” Lee said at last week’s meeting.

However, Lee also said the recommended design “offers tremendous advantages and adds transformative value to the school. (The design) tries to leverage the most value from the available funds.”

While some items were left out of the project – including new parking and a bus access loop – the redesign does add a new gym, a new learning commons and separate spaces for art, music and other specialized services.

At last week’s workshop, Superintendent of Schools Xavier Botana said while “the project represents a scaled-back interpretation of the conceptual documents … the  scaling back allows the project to retain most of the key features in the original design while maintaining the financial viability of the overall four-school (bond).”

The School Board is expected to give final approval to the proposed design at its Jan. 8 meeting, with the hope of putting the project out to bid in February and starting construction sometime in the spring.

Lee said once construction is underway, the project is expected to have a 24- to 30-month build out. Students would remain in the building while work is being done.

The proposed redesign of Lyseth School has already received the stamp of approval from the Building Level Advisory Committee, and Lee said a public forum would be held on Jan. 17 to provide an update to the community before the project goes out to bid.

Newly elected School Board member Emily Figdor, who was a key player in getting the four-school capital bond passed, last week said while the Lyseth project doesn’t include “everything that we want, it’s so much (better).”

“Prioritizing the learning spaces was the right way to do it,” she said, adding, “This is really exciting.”

In describing the design process, Lee said the team from Harriman came up with some “out-of-the-box ideas” to accomplish as much as it could with the money available, while also providing a 21st-century learning environment.

The building’s unique footprint is one way that’s accomplished. Also, as proposed, the design includes a curved connector to the new gym, which would also house the new library or learning commons.

In the end, according to Lisa Sawin, also of Harriman Associates, the goal was to “have a successful building that supports the programming,” while also being true to the design statement created by members of the Lyseth community.

“All design decisions were made through the lens of that statement,” she said, which says Lyseth School should become “a nurturing community garden where everyone grows, learns and explores.”

In terms of meeting 21st-century standards, Lee and Sawin said the redesigned school will have lots of natural light, as well as large group and small group learning spaces and more individual spaces where students can go.

The recommended design for Lyseth calls for keeping the cafeteria, but adding a new gym with a stage and bleachers, a new, highly-secure entry lobby and administrative office suite, a new nurse’s office, a new learning commons and one new pre-kindergarten classroom.

In addition, a new fire alarm and sprinkler system would also be installed, along with new security doors. The classrooms would be organized by grade level, or what Lee called “academic neighborhoods,” and there would be no second floor.

In all, about 15 classrooms in the building would remain substantially the same, Lee said, while others might get a few new touches and others would be completely renovated. He also said the plan calls for two new outdoor learning spaces.

Kate Irish Collins can be reached at 710-2336 or kcollins@theforecaster.net. Follow Kate on Twitter: @KIrishCollins.

A redesigned Lyseth Elementary School in Portland would include a new gym and learning commons, as well as a new secure entrance, but other parts of the project were left out due to cost considerations.