Construction restarts in music and science buildings
Tiffany Lee, Asst. Photo Editor|September 23, 2020
Although the Diamond Bar High School campus is closed to students, doesn't mean all operations have halted. During this time, construction on the 500 building and instrumental music building has been ongoing as the school continues to prepare for students' eventual return to campus.
When Measure WV passed two years ago, the music program received $9.8 million to build its three story facility near the school's tennis courts, which will hold all of the music programs classes. The groundbreaking ceremony was held Feb. 19 and construction started soon afterwards. It restarted after the long hiatus due to the virus. The current band room will house the new Golden Horseshoe and the offices of the athletic director.
In an email, band directors Steve Acciani and Marie Santos expressed their excitement about the new building.
"It will allow us to not only continue our great group work but better meet the needs for all the individual students in our programs."
The school is also in the midst of renovations of the oldest building on campus: the 500 building. The facility will have new features such as heat resistant countertops, a central meeting area, and will house 15 to 20 science classrooms. Contractors have placed cement after digging trenches and completed inserting plumbing and electricity lines. As soon as the renovations for the science building is completed, the school will work on improving the 400 building for history and English classes.
Operations Manager Mike Bromberg said that as of Aug. 29, all underground utilities work, including water, sewer, gas and electrical lines, has been completed.
Construction was put on pause for a short period, though, as they had difficulty getting access to certain agencies and vendors to obtain necessary materials, which were in short supply nation-wide in the early months of the pandemic, according to Bromberg.
Although the construction process is steadily underway, the workers experience occasional problems with the fire alarms being triggered by dust from their work.
Acciani and Santos are in the process of organizing their equipment and materials, so they are able to establish a learning environment for the students in the new building. They also started working with policies and procedures to best utilize and maintain the new building.
All workers are following the CDC's health protocols by wearing masks and answering a routine health survey at the start of every work day. They are also isolated on the construction site, away from school staff members, to reduce the risk of either group getting infected.
"These projects are fantastic and they will benefit students for many years," Bromberg said.
The construction of the 500 building is expected to be completed in August 2021 and the instrumental music building in June 2021.