Needham School Building Committee Sets $325 Million Budget for New Pollard Middle School

NEEDHAM -- June 8, 2026, Needham School Building Committee unanimously sets Pollard Middle School total project budget at $325.4 million. The committee, chaired by Richard Green, approved the figure at its June 8 joint meeting with the Public Buildings and Facilities Committee after member Stuart Chandler successfully pushed to raise the owner's construction contingency from 5 percent to 7 percent, an increase of roughly $5 million, citing the site's two-phase construction, geothermal well field, high water table, MBTA proximity, and underground utility unknowns. "I think we would be really cutting ourselves thinner on a very complicated site," Chandler said. The vote brings the construction cost estimate, reconciled between manager Bond Building Construction at $260.7 million and independent estimator PM&C at $258 million, into a total project budget of $325,405,945, of which $2.75 million has already been appropriated, leaving roughly $317.5 million in future bonding. The committee also unanimously approved $1.14 million in value-engineering savings already embedded in the baseline, including swapping polished concrete cafeteria floors for sheet linoleum ($309,600 saved) and replacing concrete unit pavers with cast-in-place concrete at the main entrance ($643,104 saved). A debt exclusion question is targeted for the November 3, 2026 ballot.