BOSTON--Representatives from the City of Laconia, Laconia School District, Laconia Memorial Middle School, ARC/Architectural Resources Cambridge, Rist-Frost-Shumway/RFS Engineering, and Harvey Construction Corporation of New Hampshire celebrated the groundbreaking of a new Memorial Middle School, $24.3 million project that will replace Laconia's existing Memorial Middle School.  The new, 118,000-square-foot facility will serve grades six through eight and will accommodate up to 750 students.

“Working with the City of Laconia to design their new middle school is a wonderful opportunity,” said Henry S. Reeder, FAIA, principal at ARC. “We are excited to be part of the design process that will provide the city with a modern and sustainable facility that will not only meet the needs of its students but also accommodate future growth.”

The project will replace an existing 1961 facility with a new middle school building on the same site.  Phasing of demolition and new construction is required in order for the current school to remain occupied during the construction process.  Phase 1 consists of a 3-story Academic Wing that includes classrooms, administrative spaces and a library/media center.  Phase 2 consists of a 1-story Core Wing, which will include a cafeteria and kitchen, gymnasium, multi-purpose room, and music classrooms.  Phase 1 will be complete in Fall 2008, with the completion of Phase 2 to follow in Fall 2009.

Memorial Middle School has been designed to be a sustainable or “green” building in accordance with the New England Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), a non-profit organization that works to improve the quality of education for New England's children.  The State of New Hampshire recently recognized the CHPS program, and enacted legislation to provide additional School Building Aid for projects which meet specific CHPS criteria.  "This will be the first all new construction project in New Hampshire to participate in the additional School Building Aid program," said Chris Shumway, P.E., president of RFS.  "The building and site design integrate many high performance features, while the construction cost fits well within NHDOE guidelines."

Located on beautiful Lake Opechee, in the heart of New Hampshire's Lakes Region, Laconia's Memorial Middle School has a student population of approximately 600 students in grades six, seven and eight, with about 200 students in each grade level.  Each grade consists of two teams: each team having four academic teachers: Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies.