Howard was the Quantity Surveyor and Project Director
On March 20, 2024, a project team assembled under a tree at Kingston College, North Street to view a set of preliminary Architectural drawings prepared by Architect Peter Francis. The drawings were for what would become the Frontage Project.
The team met again on Friday July 9thPrayers were said and ground was broken. The actual construction commenced on July 22nd, 2024.
In a brief speech by principal Dave Myrie, we learned that Reynold Scott had undertaken to fund the project with a donation of J$10M.
The components of the project were:
∙ Additional parking areas
∙ Widened roadways with kerbs & walkways
∙ Construction of canopies of either side of the main gate
∙ Extended guard house to include a bathroom
∙ Extended second gate
∙ Improvement to front fence
∙ Landscaping, sewage disposal and water supply for new bathroom
A bill of quantities was prepared and priced based on the drawings. It was priced at J$13.5M at the time and included the chapel garden. The chapel garden and the legacy walkway were extracted, as that would be done by the Florida based Chapter of the Old Boy’s Association. Despite the extraction of the Chapel Garden, the final figure ballooned to approximately J$21.5M which included a contribution of J$5.0M from Mr. Delroy Chuck for paving the internal driveway.
As a quantity surveyor I saw the project from somewhat of a different perspective than others, in that I would be looking at all the details that would add up to the final figure of each component and then the overall budget figure.
I noticed that the fence to be replaced was comprised of what is known as chain-link (mesh) with barbed wire at the top, (the same material used throughout the country as part of the fences in remand centres).
The lower portion of original grillwork was to be modified in such ways to maintain the historic semblance, all the way up to the height of the chain-link that it would replace. Some design subtlety was required to raise the height but also increase the sturdiness without introducing overt and ostentatious structural members. Similar approaches were made on the original “historic” gate and other gates.
1 | P a g e
The decision was made to use paver bricks for the additional parking spaces, and the main entrance. The secondary entrance was improved accordingly as this trend continued.
All the drawings turned out to be basic instructions as the project was eventually driven by the tenets of dream, visions, and ideology. The goal was to raise the bar and provide entrances and frontage to a first-class academic institution facility intended to produce
first class students. Upward revisions in project details by the donor became the order of the day.
Despite the residual effect of Hurricane Beryl that skirted our shores and an extended rainy season that seemed almost unending, the thrust persisted. The details became refined along the way and the project cost paralleled the ascent; the donor relented with more injection of resources.
A sewer line that traversed the entirety of the project was discovered failed and had to be replaced, impinging further on project resources, but and again the donor conceded.
The opening of school added to the misery of the incessant rain, as certain works could not be done during class time. Saturday and Sunday work had to be scheduled to achieve completion.