New Northeast Metro Tech Design Starts To Take Shape

WAKEFIELD, MA — The design of a new Northeast Metro Tech building is still in the early stages, but developers provided a glimpse into what a new school at the site would look like. The project team submitted the Preferred Schematic Report to the Massachusetts School Building Authority after experimenting with various design options and student enrollment levels.

The report recommended a new building that would satisfy an enrollment of 1,600 students be built at the site. Northeast Metro Tech currently has 1,250 students enrolled.

Some highlights of the design include:

• Putting the career technical and academic classes in the same part of the building to allow for collaboration among students.
• Creating large, public areas at the opposite end of the building from the classrooms, which helps separate the spaces and enhance security.
• Housing the administrative offices, auditorium, cafeteria and construction shop space on the first floor, and the design and communication, and academic classrooms on the second and third floors.
• Constructing a new main access road off of Farm Street, which will help alleviate traffic congestion. This road will eventually be connected to the existing main entrance off Hemlock Road in order to create a loop.
• Building new, larger athletic fields where the current building stands, as well as reserving the current football and track facility for future developments if needed.

This was deemed the least disruptive of all options, as it can be built in phases away from the existing building and does not require the use of temporary facilities.

The project team and district leaders will meet with the School Building Authority board on Feb. 11 to review the report and potentially receive approval to move on to the next step. The upcoming phase will include fleshing out the preferred construction option to reflect optimal site and building layouts based on meetings with staff and stakeholders; functionality of the building; more detailed cost estimates and a refined schedule.

The district will submit the Schematic Design report to the MSBA in July, with possible approval at the August board meeting. If the scope and budget are approved, the communities Northeast Metro Tech serves will be called upon to contribute their portion of the project's budget this fall.