Building panel skips votes, reviews $418M project
The Lowell High School Building Committee lacked a quorum but still reviewed foundation waterproofing, a fire-protection redesign and the $418 million project budget.
School Committee · Meeting of September 24, 2026
LOWELL — The Lowell High School Building Committee lacked a quorum but still reviewed foundation waterproofing, a fire-protection redesign and the $418 million project budget. Suffolk Construction's Kyle said waterproofing along the 1922 building and Coburn Hall is about 75 percent complete, using a new one-sided concrete wall poured against old rubble foundation to create a surface for membrane waterproofing. School Committee member Bahu challenged project language saying mitigations would only "reduce," not satisfy, water seepage risk, asking "when did this water come into Lowell High School?" Skanska's Kevin reported $354 million invoiced to date, $44 million in cumulative change orders, and roughly $8.9 million left in construction contingency, with about $8.5 million already earmarked for pending requests including a Coburn Hall attic fire-protection fix.
A separate $1.4 million owner's contingency remains available. No formal votes were taken due to the lack of quorum.
In the full story:
- Who Was There
- Organizations And Documents Referenced
- The complete report — 2,335 words
Source: the School Committee meeting of September 24, 2026, reported from the official video recording and transcript.
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