In March the Appleton Public Library Board of Trustees and City of Appleton Common Council selected Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) for design and engineering services for the Appleton Public Library at its current location.
City staff continue to work with SOM on the library project. The following progress has been made in the past month:
1. Concept Design and Community Input
SOM presented concepts to the Library Building Project Advisory Committee August 11, the Library Board August 17 and to the community in a virtual meeting on August 23. Staff collected feedback on the concepts from the community from August 17 through September 10. Major themes from the feedback include parking and environmentally-friendly practices/building. Trending comments include excitement for both the opportunity to provide natural light and the overall design of the building.
SOM will present to the City of Appleton Common Council September 15.
Focus groups with SOM are scheduled for October 5-7. Most focus groups will be virtual, but there are some that will be in-person based on the best way to engage with each audience. More information will be available soon.
The architects continue to refine the concept based on the feedback provided by community members.
2. Additional Site Assessment Updates
Work and analysis continues on subsurface environmental investigations as well as additional inspections of the existing facility for lead, asbestos. This will help us determine the existing soil conditions and if any contamination exists from previous structures and activities.
3. Contract for Construction Manager at Risk Services.
The Boldt Company (Boldt) was approved as the project’s construction manager by the City of Appleton Common Council on September 1. As the construction manager, Boldt joins the design process immediately to provide pre-construction services such as assisting in estimating, schedule development and value engineering, which ultimately reduces cost and increases quality. All areas of construction will be open for public bids in Spring 2022. Boldt may choose to bid on some of this work and will only be awarded if they are the lowest responsible bidder. The Boldt team has been meeting with SOM, library and city staff as we continue to work on the library design.
4. Interim Library Needs
Director Gazza has begun working with city departments and library staff to identify possible locations for the library to function during the period of construction.
