Phillipsburg High School

In September 2016, the new Phillipsburg High School opened its doors for students in grades 9-12. The project was issued under a statewide construction contract, designed to assist the State in meeting and exceeding a State Supreme Court order to rebuild schools in areas with the greatest need for new facilities. Phillipsburg High School, which cost approximately $105 million, is one of the largest projects undertaken by New Jersey’s statewide school construction program.

As construction manager, Heery carefully managed the project’s costs, keeping the budget within the New Jersey School Development Authority’s (NJSDA) acceptable limits. The team also provided additional CPM schedule review services to help the contractor with construction logic, flow and resource allocation, enabling the team to recover construction time. 

Heery also provided an after-bid constructability review of the contract documents, involving the General Contractor, the NJSDA and Heery.  With an allowance of $200,000, the NJSDA requested the contractor review the documents page-by-page to verify any missed items, offering the perspective of all trades. The goal of this after-bid review was to prevent any on-site issues prior to construction to prevent delays and, in essence, offered the low bidder an additional opportunity to review the documents. Following the General Contractor’s review, Heery analyzed the data and determined the validity of any change orders was able to minimize the overall cost associated with change orders. 

The new high school houses 1,800 students with the capacity to hold 2,200, a facility that is even larger than the local Phillipsburg Mall.  It is divided into two wings: academic and community.  The school houses a three-story academic wing, 50 general classrooms, six special education classrooms, 12 small group instruction rooms, three health classrooms, 12 science-related classrooms, three business labs, three computer labs and media center.  Adjacent to the 1,000-seat auditorium are the vocal and instrumental music rooms, offering ease of access to the stage.  The food court-style cafeteria seats 700 and provide a patio for senior privilege, similar to the courtyard in the former high school.  The 2,400-seat gymnasium can be divided into five teaching stations for physical education.