$60m New Jersey School Opening Delayed Due to Supply Chain

Opening of the Charles and Anna Booker School in Plainfield, New Jersey, has been pushed back a year.

Source : New Jersey Schools Development Authority

April 13, 2022

Author : Alex Bustillos

Local media reports that the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) CEO Manuel Da Silva announced the new $60 million school will open in September 2023 instead of September of this year, as was planned.

Da Silva said that the school is among other SDA projects to be affected by supply chain disruptions. The Charles and Anna Booker School, specifically, is seeing delays due to issues procuring “masonry, rough infrastructure such as plumbing, HVAC, air conditioning, electrical or fire protection.”

Disruptions of deliveries of concrete masonry units have reportedly delayed the seven or eight month construction process to 15 months.

"The construction continues to move forward even in the midst of a pandemic," Da Silva said. "The pandemic however, has disrupted many things and one of those things is supply chain. So this supply chain insert issues are now impacting materials about mobility and delivery for this school project and construction is therefore slower than originally projected."

Ground was broken on the project last July. The new school will feature three stories, 120,000-square-feet and will accommodate 840 students from kindergarten to fifth grade. It will also feature 41 classrooms, an art room, a vocal music room, an instrumental music room, a tech lab, a science room, computer lab, a gymnasium, a cafeteria, a media center, a playground and a basketball court, according to My Central Jersey.

A $45 million contract was awarded to Epic Management for design and construction. The company is also working with DMR Architects on the design, while Cambridge Construction Management is managing the construction.

Despite the supply chain delays affecting SDA projects, construction of three new school projects were announced last week including an elementary school in Elizabeth, a pre-K through grade five school in Garfield, and a addition to Bridgeton high school.

Category : State Government Schools

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