Northeast Metro Tech students tour school construction site, view ongoing work

WAKEFIELD – Superintendent David DiBarri was pleased to announce that Northeast Metro Tech Carpentry students were able to visit the construction site for the school’s new building to get a firsthand look at construction professionals on the job. Thanks to the project’s construction manager, Gilbane, and the owner’s project manager, PMA Consultants, during the ongoing construction, different shops from the school will be visiting the site each month so students can see firsthand the work that is being done.

Carpentry students were the first to visit the site – on Sept. 19. Representatives of Gilbane outfitted the students with hardhats, gloves, safety glasses and high-visibility vests. The group attended Gilbane’s site orientation for the project, which highlighted Gilbane’s safety and personal protective equipment (PPE) requirements, as well as the team’s detailed logistics plan for this large-scale Vocational High School project.

This was followed by a comprehensive tour of the project site, where site clearing activities had recently commenced. The Gilbane team explained the project schedule, including identifying upcoming activities, including the extensive ledge blasting and on-site processing of the ledge materials for reuse on the project site. The construction site is being cleared, so students got to see the grand scope of the construction project, and they learned that nothing from the site goes to waste thanks to coordination between project managers and Northeast Metro Tech.

Some of the trees that were removed will be used for river reclamation, in which they are placed in nearby rivers and streams to support wildlife habitats. The smaller trees and brush were made into wood chips, rolled into fabric and placed around the site for erosion control. The lower quality trees will be used to make pallets for shipping, and the higher quality trees will be used to make furniture and interior trim and moldings.

Quite a few of the pine and oak trees that were cleared were saved for the Carpentry shop sawmill. These trees will be cut into slabs to be used for future shop woodworking projects.

“It was an exciting trip,” said Angel Santana, of North Reading. “They explained every step they’re taking to make our new dream school.”

“It was exciting to see the new school,” said Lucas Subtil, of Woburn.

“I found the experience interesting and I look forward to seeing the finished product,” said Nour Achab, of Revere.

“I want to thank Gilbane and PMA Consultants for opening up the construction site to our students so they can see first-hand how professionals work in an active project site,” said Superintendent DiBarri. “Gilbane and PMA have been great partners throughout this project, and by inviting our students to see their work they are helping our students further their education.”

Additional work ongoing at the site includes construction activities outside of wetland areas, as the project team awaits a decision from the Department of Environmental Protection regarding a superseding order of conditions for wetlands work.

Maine Drilling & Blasting, the blasting subcontractor for the project, began work on Oct. 12 within the area that will become the new parking lot. Leading up to the start of blasting work, Main Drilling & Blasting installed five seismograph instruments around the area to measure and record ground and air vibrations following each blast. Blasting operations are scheduled to continue through the end of January, with one to two blasts expected each day.

Anyone who would like to sign up for pre-blast notifications can call Esta Falvey at Main Drilling & Blasting at 508-478-0273. A pre-blast notification text will be issued to those who have signed up prior to each blast.

Meanwhile, sitework subcontractor J.R. Vinagro is in the process of hammering the blasted rock ledge pieces to 24 inches or less, and will use rock crushing machinery in mid-November to repurpose the blasted rock into structural fill for the site.