The Knoxville School Board awarded bid packages for the new middle school project at its meeting Monday evening. They awarded bids to Central Steel, Inc., US Erectors, Sandstone Management and Caliber Concrete for structural steel, precast concrete, sitework, site utilities and concrete paving. Superintendent Cassi Pearson says that the project aligns well with the expected budget.

“It’s our second set of bids that came in. We did do the precast panels earlier, and we’re pleased with the budget on that. They approved several additional packages. We have bid out about ⅓ of the project so far, and at this point, we are right on the estimated budget. Part of the bid package from the meeting was steel, and our contractor just got word that steel prices will be going up 50 percent next week due to supply and demand. We are so grateful that we got in very favorable terms on that package, along with our concrete work. We’re right on track.”

The remainder of the bids will be awarded on February 17th. Groundbreaking will begin this spring. Hear more from Knoxville Schools Superintendent Cassi Pearson on today’s Let’s Talk Knoxville. View the bid package awards here.