Construction project continues at Brownstown Central High School

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BROWNSTOWN

As students and staff headed back to Brownstown Central High School this week, they saw a lot of changes inside and outside.

The interior work included heating, ventilation and air conditioning upgrades in the agriculture, industrial arts, technology, consumer science and band classrooms; cafeteria; guidance office; old athletic office area; teacher’s lounge; and small office areas.

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Heating and cooling units also were placed on the roof of the school building and were tied into the energy management system. Plus, there are new acoustical ceilings, LED light fixtures and lighting controls.

Testing and balancing was done earlier this week, Tom Alstott with EMCOR Construction Services of Indianapolis said during a recent construction walkthrough with Superintendent Greg Walker, business manager Jade Peters and the seven school board members.

“That’s where they come in and test air and water balance on everything,” he said. “It takes them a few weeks to double-check and make sure all of the flows and everything are correct on all of the equipment.”

The band room also was refurbished with new carpet, painted walls, secured instrument storage units, larger dedicated practice rooms, an expanded dressing area, red and black sound-absorption panels and soundproof entry doors.

Another big improvement was replacing the building’s perimeter windows with insulated glass units to make them more efficient. The old windows were from the original school building in 1963.

In the courtyard in the middle of the school, new windows and three doors were installed.

New terrazzo and fixtures were installed in restrooms, and new doors were put on some stalls to make them compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Work on the locker rooms is the last part of the interior project.

The boiler coil unit and heating and air conditioning unit were the final installments in the 1999 locker rooms on the east end of the gymnasium.

“We anticipate the week of Aug. 13 to have that all running and everything put back and completely done,” Alstott said.

The 1963 locker rooms on the north end of the gym are still off limits.

“We really don’t want anybody to go in there because there’s still exposed wiring and receptacles that haven’t been buttoned up yet,” Alstott said.

Outside, work has progressed on the turf football field, stadium entrance and new parking lot.

Earlier this week, a crew with Mount Pleasant, South Carolina-based Sprinturf placed the first strip of turf. Now, all of the turf is down, including the Brownstown Central logo in the middle of the field and red end zones with Braves in black lettering outlined in white.

Sprinturf holds a patent on an all-rubber infill artificial turf system, which company officials say is the safest type of infill to have on a field and is most like a pristine, natural grass feel. The company has installed turf on football, soccer and baseball fields since 2009, including more than 40 fields at Indiana high schools and universities.

The old football field was dug out about 2 feet, and rock and drainage pipes were put in place. Cloth fabric was put over top of that, and then the shock pad and turf with carpet with rubber pellets.

Peters said the shock pad improves the Gmax rating and makes the field safer. A Gmax test is conducted to test the impact of the surface, and there is an antimicrobial application that protects bacteria from forming on the surface.

Curtis Petty with Kovert Hawkins Architects of Jeffersonville said the turf project was supposed to be substantially completed by Friday. With the weather and Sprinturf doing installations all over the country, there were delays in getting the Brownstown project started.

The football team’s scrimmage Friday night was moved to Jennings County High School, but the field should be ready by the first home game Aug. 24 against Charlestown. The Braves’ regular-season opener is Aug. 17 at Corydon Central.

The main entrance to Blevins Memorial Stadium also was redone. A front-facing ticket booth with three windows sits back nearly 20 feet from the curb, and a new plaza with a low brick wall will give people a safe place to sit and congregate.

Near that area on the end of the building with the Braves’ weight room and locker room, two unisex family restrooms and a storage room are being constructed.

The exterior of that building also will be redone to match the building on the opposite side of the stadium that houses a concession stand, restrooms and the visiting team’s locker room. Plus, the steps to the weight room will be redone to include a landing, and the steps will face north so it’s safer for people going in and out of the building.

The sidewalk that extends from the main entrance to Bridge Street will be redone, too.

“It’s in pretty bad shape,” Peters said. “Plus, you’ve got people parking on it all of the time, so it will be raised up as high as (the new sidewalk at the entrance) so people won’t be able to park up on top of it.”

A new sidewalk is planned at the visitor entrance, extending from the ticket booth to the existing sidewalk along the parking lot. Previously, people had to walk through the grass, so Peters said the change will make it ADA compliant.

There also will be accessibility to the concession stand via a lane on the track in front of the bleachers.

Once the turf is done, a paving crew will mill the track surface down an inch and pave it. That has to cure a month before the rubber surface is added, Peters said.

The new field events areas have been paved, and new yellow goal posts were installed on the football field.

A 4-foot-wide walkway around the perimeter of the track and fencing will be the final work at the stadium.

The new parking lot will add 132 spaces near the entrance to the stadium and gymnasiums. To help with traffic flow, the entrance along West Bridge Street will be widened to include one way in and two turn lanes out, and a right-turn-only exit will be added near the last row of spaces in the new parking lot. The lot will have three entrances and six new light poles.

All of the work is expected to be completed by Oct. 4. King’s Trucking and Excavation Inc. of Seymour is the general contractor for the exterior project.

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