By Adam Swift
Foundation work on the new Revere High School at the 33-acre Wonderland site could get underway in March, according to representatives from Consigli Construction.
The update on construction of the new high school, which is currently slated to open for staff and students in January of 2029, was provided during last week’s Revere High School Building Committee meeting by the general contractor for the project. Darren Peeler did give his timeline for the foundation work prior to a winter storm dumping more than a foot of snow on the area earlier this week.
Peeler highlighted photos of the supportive excavation work around the footprint of the building.
“It’s the sheeting that goes around the entire perimeter of the building,” said Peeler. “Because we are at sea level, we are trying to stem the tide, so to speak, so that when we do start any subterranean work – foundations, underground utilities, etc. – we will be able to keep the water at bay so we can do the work.”
All of the supportive excavation work and that sheeting had been installed as of early February, according to Peeler.
Peeler also highlighted the drilling rigs at the rear of the proposed school at the Building F site which will be used to help with the foundation work and ground improvements.
“We plan to start our foundations, and when steel arrives, steel, from the back of the building to the front of the building,” said Peeler. “We will be installing the ground improvements out in front of that, which is what’s happening right now. The good news is that we were able to get the footprint of the building prepped earlier so that we could create the load platform that allows us to drive these very heavy rigs on top of the building footprint so they don’t sink; and then we can drill in the ground improvements.”
Currently, the plan is to get a start on the ground improvements for the area at the rear of the building site to allow the work to begin on the foundations.
“In the process of getting ready to do all of that work, we have had a tremendous amount of soil that we’ve had to move,” said Peeler. “In order to move it, we’ve had to either live load it in trucks and remove it off site as needed or we have stockpiled it in other areas of the 33 acres of the site. So currently, we’ve had some pretty good luck on getting the landfill facilities to accept the soils so we can do the live load and get the soil off site, which is our preference as opposed to stockpiling.”
Peeler said it is an arduous process to develop the reports that need to be submitted to the landfills to get them to accept the soil from the site.
There are also utilities being installed on the site as preparation to begin the foundation work continues, he said.
“The outlook is good right now for us to start foundations in March, which is an improvement from the original outlook, which was to start foundations in April,” said Peeler. “Despite the obstacles that we have had with dealing with the soils … and the delay with getting those soils out of our own way, coupled with the winter conditions, we have still been able to work with our project teams to find out a way to get the foundations moved up in the schedule.”
