SOUTHINGTON It wasnt good news from the Middle School Building Committee at the Town Council meeting Tuesday, with cost and construction timeline overruns projected for the renovation of Kennedy and DePaolo middle schools.

Chris Palmieri, Democratic councilor and member of the middle school building committee, said incorrect estimates by the architect firm Fletcher Thompson means the project will cost 10 percent more than the $85 million approved by voters in a referendum. Architects forgot to include the $1.9 million to build a fire wall and used the wrong square footage.

Councilors expressed concern about the project, asking Town Attorney Mark Sciota how the difference could be made up.

We have significant overruns now and we havent even started the project, said Republican Councilor Cheryl Lounsbury, adding that she expects more unexpected costs once construction begins.

Sciota said the town could add money to the project through grants, town budgeting or another referendum. He said the town has yet to have a referendum for cost overruns.

Republican council vice chairman Peter Romano asked what drove the incorrect estimates in addition to the firewall and square footages. Palmieri said the committee was still trying to get details from the architects, saying he was unhappy with their communication.

This is the firm that told us it could be done for $85 million, Palmieri said. Were working to try to make this project as affordable as possible. Weve given up things that we didnt necessarily want to give up.

The committee has proposed cuts to the project and is hoping to minimize costs from environmental remediation, according to Palmieri.

On Tuesday, the council also voted unanimously to reduce sewer installation costs to homeowners in the Mount Vernon Road area. Residents were given incorrect sewer assessments and $106,214 from the sewer fund was used to bring the costs down to what residents were originally quoted.

Last month about 40 residents from the area attended the hearing. Several complained that their assessment $94.91 per linear foot was higher than the estimate of between $85 and $90 per linear foot that was given when the project began in 2008.

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Palmieri: Architects underestimated cost of middle school construction

The New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is announcing it is hosting the 2013 NZIA Continual Professional Development (CPD) seminars alongside New Zealands leading building and construction industry event, buildnz designex 2013.

Buildnz designex has been running for more than 26 years serving the building, architecture, design and specifier sectors with a biennial three-day exhibition of leading products and services providers, and complimented with seminars for on-going professional training requirements.

Beverley McRae, NZIA Chief Executive says, "It made sense to align our professional development seminars with buildnz designex. Given the large numbers of architect members (and sponsor partners) historically attending this vital industry event, it provides an unequalled opportunity for our members to network with the wider construction industry. Were looking forward to working with the organisers to deliver a lively event for our members and, indeed, the wider industry."

Beverley says that NZIA will be working closely with organisers XPO Exhibitions to arrange two full days of seminars for its members. "Well be delivering a seminar line-up from leading architects, specifiers and build designers across New Zealand and Australia. There is a serious pipeline of work in the build, design and architectural services and the landscape has never been so challenging."

"Consider the issues facing our sector - we have the Christchurch rebuild, the growing lack of supply of new home builds in Auckland, and the nationwide rework addressing leaky buildings - all of these issues on a standalone basis are creating a major challenge for the wider industry in the coming years. Consider also the strong pipeline of commercial build projects, and these are very exciting times for the industry, but also times where we must ensure everyone involved is delivering a world-class standard of work."

The NZIA CPD Days and indeed buildnz designex 2013 will arm the industry with tools, ideas, inspiration and professional training to deliver on that standard.

The NZIA says the co-location is beneficial to share ideas and networking between member architects and builders.

Networking is one area that XPO Exhibitions says it will be looking to improve on with local and central government planning organisations invited to foster better ties between industry and council planning organisations, among others. "We will be approaching major councils and government bodies to be at buildnz designex 2013 to network and talk with members about challenges facing this next phase of growth for the construction and design industries," says XPOs managing director, Brent Spillane. "Organisations already closely aligned to buildnz designex 2013 include the Registered Master Builders Federation, Certified Builders Association of New Zealand, Department of Building and Housing, and BRANZ. The Registered Master Builders Federation hosted its own conference at the last buildnz designex. We had more than 5000 industry professional visits across the three days who were all there to see new product offerings and attend a myriad of professional seminar sessions from leading experts, as well as hearing from industry heads and senior members of parliament.

"Visitor attendance at these seminars and, indeed, the NZIA member attendance to CPD days in 2013, will play an important role in maintaining professional qualifications for these trade professionals."

Other initiatives in 2013 will include:

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NZIA holding training sessions at designex

Lynchburg, VA - Monday night, the Lynchburg City School Board and administrators, held a special work session, where for the first time they heard from the architects tasked with designing the new Heritage High school.

While it's still very early in determining what will happen with Heritage High School, for the first time tonight, school leaders got a glimpse into what the new campus may look like.

Plan after plan, nine in total were presented to the Lynchburg City School Board, which is slated with the task of determining the future of Heritage High School.

"We need a new Heritage High. It's about how we do it, not if we're going to do it. And we're still in the preliminary stages of the how," said Superintendent Dr. Scott Brabrand.

Architects presented three potential plans:

"Every one of these is assuming you can build the building and the kids could move into that," said architect, and Vice President of Moseley Architects Jim McCalla.

McCalla says while he was tasked with finding a multitude of options, he's noticed keeping the same site for Heritage, as perhaps the community's front-running favorite.

"Because it keeps the Heritage of Heritage High School; for one thing, it's the same site, where Heritage High School has been forever," he said.

McCalla's plans, though very preliminary, account for a growth of Heritage enrollment from 1,100, to 1,500 students, and the square footage to reflect it.

That, along with the price of inflation, puts each potential price tag at $93 million.

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Architects Present Possible Plans for Future of Heritage HS in Lynchburg

The St. Joseph Board of Education met with the architects that will design its new schools during an open study session before the regular board meeting Monday evening.

Reed Graves of River Bluff Architects and Ron Auxier of Ellison-Auxier Architects each took turns laying out their renderings of the schools to be built at Carden Park and Bishop and Cook roads. Board members and school administrators were given a chance to discuss possible changes and scenarios in the designs.

Last May, the school board selected Ellison-Auxier Architects to build a 75,000-square-foot elementary school at Cook and Bishop roads. The board also selected River Bluff Architects to construct a similar-sized two-story structure at 16th and Duncan streets

Were ready to start putting details to each of these concepts youre looking at, Ron Auxier told the gathering. Were not doing a lot of room changes. Once you get to this level you pretty much know this is the room, this is where food services is at and things of that type.

Reed Graves added that this is the earliest part of the architectural work. There are still a few more steps to be completed before final design.

Now were ready to move into that phase where we start taking designs and adding details to them, solidify material prices, structural schemes and things like that.

In the regular board meeting which lasted a little over 30 minutes, the board approved the submissions of free and reduced lunch applications and accepted a request for qualifications from Lankford and Associates to air condition five of its elementary schools in 2013.

The school district also was awarded a Seven Seals Award by the Missouri National Guard and Reserve for the work with veterans and their children.

Board member Sue Wagner also was honored for her recent recognition at the Annual Gifted Association of Missouri Conference.

Ms. Wagner has worked in the St. Joseph School District program in some capacity since 1980.

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Architects meet with school board

LAS VEGAS, Nov. 12, 2012 /PRNewswire/ --Microsoft SharePoint Conference --Portal Architects, Inc. today announced the release of their new app, Skybrary. Skybrary makes it incredibly easy for businesses and consumers alike to find, move, share and protect files across a variety of Cloud and/or on-premises storage systems.

Steve Woodward, Portal Architects CTO said; "Files are everywhere, PCs, corporate networks, FTP sites, SharePoint, Cloud storage providers, etc. Skybrary merges and unifies content, no matter where it's stored, into one intuitive user-experience."

Woodward continues; "Skybrary is remarkably simple to setup and operate. Users merely link Skybrary to one or more of their supported storage platforms by just clicking on a button. Skybrary then automatically establishes secure connections to those systems using their existing account and login credentials. Prior operational knowledge of the storage platform is not required or necessary."

Mark Brazeau, Portal Architects co-founder adds; "Almost everyone wants to leverage the Cloud at some level but they're not sure where to begin or how to move existing files, let alone their related properties and folder structures. Skybrary mitigates these challenges, plus you're no longer forced to settle on one storage platform in order to unify content. It also gives organizations the freedom to leverage the latest storage technologies without impacting the end-user experience."

Skybrary enables users to search across all linked systems in a single step. It also allows users to move files, folder structures (taxonomies) and document properties such as metadata to/from any storage system via drag and drop.

The initial beta release includes connectors for Microsoft SharePoint/Office 365, Box, DropBox, Citrix ShareFile, Network File-shares and FTP Sites. Additional storage connectors, "active" sharing/collaboration, governmentstrength file encryption, as well as support for mobile devices will be available early 2013.

While the focus of the initial release is on businesses of all sizes, future releases and features will be geared toward consumers as well as the introduction of a SaaS model. SharePoint Conference attendees can get an in-depth demonstration of Skybrary at the Skybrary booth. Users can download the free version of Skybrary from the website late November.

You can learn more at; http://www.skybrary.com Follow us at; http://twitter.com/skybrarian

Tweet this; @Skybrary releases #Cloud and on-Premises Storage Librarian at the #SharePoint Conference http://bit.ly/UfBxQR #Box, #Dropbox, #Sharefile

About Portal Architects, Inc. Skybrary is a wholly-owned product of Portal Architects, Inc. The company was co-founded by Mark Brazeau, a 20+ Year Enterprise Content Management (ECM) Veteran and Nicky Borcea, an award-winning engineer and who developed/owns more than 20 patents. Skybrary's development and architectural staff is comprised of several senior .NET engineers/architects with extensive ECM and BPM backgrounds.

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Portal Architects releases Skybrary - Cross-platform Cloud Storage Librarian

Architects - Alpha Omega WARPED TOUR UK
Architects - Alpha Omega live from the barrier at Warped Tour UK at Alexandra Palace on Saturday 10th NovemberFrom:BiteDRIsTongueViews:17 2ratingsTime:04:04More inMusic

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Architects - Alpha Omega WARPED TOUR UK - Video

SAA oppa gangnam style final
a parody..... just for the architectural practice.. name SAA Architects Pte LtdFrom:Ng ChengNgaiViews:58 0ratingsTime:03:51More inEntertainment

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SAA oppa gangnam style final - Video

Tilt LCD
Buy from Amazon CA Site http://www.amazon.ca Product Description Tilt LCD The Automation Architects AA-T2000 is a premium large tilt mount. It features high grade steel, a large VESA pattern to accommodate up to 63" TVs and a +/- 15 degree Tilt function. From wall to the back of your TV will measure 8cm (3"). The mounting bracket can tilt the TV up or down 15 degrees. The tilt up function allows for easy access to the connections on the back of the TV when mounted. The entire mount is powder coated black. The base plate measures 81.5cm L by 24cm H. The arms measure 51cm long. Max VESA pattern 600 x 400 (WxL). Disclaimer: Orchid is a participant in the Amazon.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon CA Site. Amazon and the Amazon logo are trademarks of Amazon, Inc. or its affiliates.From:suellen oaksViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:56More inPeople Blogs

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Epson EBG5450WU
Buy from Amazon UK Site redirect.viglink.com?key=f8c1c5d8cab36f6602011db4ae07e5bc out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eamazon%2Eco%2Euk%2Fdp%2FB0050I7LMW Product Description Epson EBG5450WU Epson EB-G5450WU V11H346040DAWith a WUXGA native resolution for presenting bigger images in greater detail; plus 1080p/24 frames per second (fps) processing for more cinematic images; this large venue installation projector is ideal for exhibition spaces and concert halls.This model comes with a standard lens.Get a more detailed picture: Display more content and crisper images with the WUXGA native resolution. Larger than WXGA and with a 16:10 aspect ratio; this makes for easy viewing of A3 documents. Offering an image quality exceeding that of Full HD; architects; museums; galleries and the simulation market can use this for staging more engaging projections.First-class picture quality: Audiences will enjoy perfect images; natural colours and brightness of 4;000 lumens white and Colour Light Output (CLO) thanks to Epsons 3LCD technology.Cinematic images: See smoother; more fluid images with 1080/24fps processing. This creates up to 60 frames per second in 3-2 pull down mode and 48 frames per second in more cinematic 2-2 pull down mode.EasyMP Network Control: Monitor the status of your projector; email the administrator and set up alerts; so the projector emails the administrator in case of any issues. You can also broadcast a message to the network with the included EasyMP Network Projection ...From:cody mixonViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:57More inScience Technology

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New Jack Rabbit Baseball Fields Construction November 11 2012
The Bowie Highschool has commissioned a company to finish the Jack Rabbit Baseball fields that were to have been installed during the construction of the school itself. Now some 3 years later and at an estimated cost of $5000000 dollars, that #39;s five million United States dollars, we are getting them. All of this for a high school that serves a population of about 7000 residents. Pretty insane if you ask me, considering every school in town has at least one baseball field. Are our kids too fat to walk? What #39;s wrong with bussing them there? A truly tremendous waste of tax dollars. Why isn #39;t there ever an incentive to save tax dollars? I can think of better use for the money, they could have fixed the AC system in the Junior High! I sincerely hope that construction people, architects, managers and all involved in the project are at least from our county. However, I doubt it and that means a double negative on the tax dollar expenditures. It means our money has left the county. Bowie has only 5600 people in it according to the population sign; how on Earth other than exorbitant taxes are we to justify this? Maybe we are to roll over and allow it to happen. Let them tax us out of our homes and businesses until the entire town is a wild life preserve. Yeah, go check out Agenda 21, we are in a wild life corridor. That #39;s not as pleasant as it sounds.From:Itscool ReallyViews:0 0ratingsTime:00:49More inPeople Blogs

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New Jack Rabbit Baseball Fields Construction November 11 2012 - Video