The New Wing Project

June 13/14, 2015 Weekend Update: GROUND BREAKING NEWS!!!
We will close every mass this weekend with a Ground Breaking Blessing. Join us and take home more than a memory wink emoticon Our New Wing Addition - a place to Gather, Learn and Serve! www.sesrockyhill.org

Recently we held an “Update Weekend” in the parish as the Building Committee and I brought everyone up to speed on our New Wing project as we move towards the construction stage. I reminded folks that the New Wing will be going on the other side of existing rooms A, B & C. There will be three new rooms built: a large one made up of two regular size rooms - similar to present rooms A & B – and a third regular size room. Renovations will also be made to room C which will become a smaller conference/office room with permanent furniture. In total we’ll have 6 full meeting rooms in the church as well as the smaller conference room to be used for the gatherings we have in our busy parish throughout the week. The size of the new wing will be approximately 1900 sq. ft.
Pastor Fr. Stuart H. Pinette

There were several developments during the design phase of the project. The first was the addition of two handicap accessible bathrooms in the wing for both guys and gals as well as a corridor that wraps around the wing providing access to the different rooms in order to meet town code. The second development concerns the climate control in the entire wing. During building projects, the archdiocese requires that an engineering firm be engaged as consultants to provide input and create the electrical, plumbing, and heating/air conditioning (HVAC) drawings for the general contractor to follow during construction. It was in the last area that we had to make adjustments to our previous plans. Specifically, the engineers found that the present system for the existing rooms is too antiquated to work with another system. As a result, we’ll need to install a new HVAC system for the entire wing which will provide heating and air conditioning for all the rooms and the corridor in the wing. The last development has three parts to it. First, we’ll be making some general renovations to the floors, lighting, and framing of the exiting rooms to match the new rooms. Second, partitions will be installed in both the existing and new larger rooms to separate them as needed and enhance the sound proofing. And third, a storage room will be built to store tables, chairs and ministry supplies used in the new wing. The total cost for construction is approx. $400K. There will also be assorted technology added such as WiFi, white boards, a mounted flat screen, and a mobile projector & laptop to be used at various times in all the rooms.

The project will be paid for from two sources: half from the monies raised in the Gift Campaign and half from the generous bequest of our deceased brother Fred. Presently, there’s $185K pledged to the project and nearly 70% of that has been collected so we’re real close to our goal of half the funds. The campaign will continue during construction and new pledges can be made throughout so if you haven’t had a chance to take part, I invite you to really consider doing so as we all share in this onetime opportunity in our parish. And those with 1 or 2 year pledges can continue payments in the months ahead.

The timetable is 14 weeks with the starting date the first week in July and a completion target for the end of October. The Building Committee will keep everyone informed about the project as we move forward and we’ll be marking the stages of construction with communal events as we begin building our new wing. It’s exciting stuff and something to be really proud of as we grow our church and move to the next stage of our journey of faith here at SES.

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