BRICK – Several buildings within the Brick Township School District will undergo projects to install new or upgraded heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.
Currently out of the 12 schools that make up the district, 10 schools do not have any air conditioning. Only Brick Township High School and Brick Memorial High School have fresh air intake air conditioning.
Last year, the topic of air conditioning came up in meetings with residents urging the districts to put money aside for installation. During that time, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Thomas Farrell said it could cost them some $50 million to have all the systems installed. He also said how administration was looking into a plan to install air conditioning ventilators over the next few years, prioritizing middle schools with large populations and schools with second floors where the heat rises.
At the recent Board of Education meeting, members of the board unanimously voted to approve five contracts to the company who bid the lowest on the projects, as well as a single-school contract to a separate low bidder on that portion.
These projects will include all new HVAC systems in the following schools: Lanes Mill Elementary, Veterans Memorial Elementary, Emma Havens Young Elementary and Drum Point Elementary, as well as Veterans Memorial Middle School and Lake Riviera Middle School.
Five of the contracts were awarded to the vendor GBI, Inc T/A Thermal Piping of Wrightstown. A single contract, which was for Lanes Mill Elementary school, was awarded to DeSesa Engineering Company, of Livingston.
The breakdown of the costs for each school is as follows:
- Lanes Mill Elementary School: $1,520,000
- Lake Riviera Middle School: $4,657,000
- Veterans Memorial Middle School: $4,899,000
- Emma Havens Young Elementary School: $2,963,000
- Veterans Memorial Elementary School: $2,437,000
- Drum Point Elementary School: $2,888,000
These air conditioning and HVAC system projects are being funded through the district’s capital budget. In addition, the projects are partially funded by the state from the $7.5 million that was granted to the district late last year, which was obtained from federal pandemic relief measures.
The total cost of the projects to upgrade the ventilation systems in the six schools will be $19,364,000.
