The tour is starting inside the auditorium… or what will soon be the auditorium.

The 405-seat, tiered auditorium is located near the center of the new Barrington Middle School building — a sprawling 142,000-square-foot structure that has grown impressively since the contractor, Brait Builders, began work on it in February. 

Near the ceiling, about 42 feet above the stage floor, is a catwalk, and toward the rear of the auditorium is a balcony. A stage will eventually be constructed, but right now there is only a curved cement foundation that offers an outline.

Wearing a white construction helmet and standing atop metal sheeting that will later become the balcony, Barrington Superintendent of Schools Michael Messore reflected for a moment about the project.

"Now you can begin to see what the vision for the new school is," he said. 

The new Barrington Middle School has been years in the making, but is less than one year from completion. According to Eric Andrutis, an on-site project manager, the new middle school is 33 percent complete. 

"This project has a very aggressive schedule," he said, adding "They (Brait Builders) are where they anticipated to be."

Barrington school officials selected Brait Builders after the Massachusetts-based contractor submitted the lowest qualified bid, at $51,275,000. Shortly after the bid process was complete, Brait began work, clearing the site — the athletic fields located near the intersection of Middle Highway and Lincoln Avenue. 

Before classes were dismissed in June, Brait was already installing the final steel I-beam to the structure. Most weeks, workers are on-site Monday through Saturday. 

Mr. Andrutis said there are, typically, between 100 and 150 workers at the construction site each day, although some days there are nearly 175 men working on the new school. 

Officials have established a completion date of Aug. 2019 for the new building — they fully expect students and teachers to be in the new middle school at the start of the 2019-20 school year. 

After the auditorium

The middle school gymnasium is located next to the auditorium. 

When construction is complete, the gym will have bleacher seating along one sideline, electronic scoreboards on two walls and a large projection screen. The space seems massive — the basketball hoops have not been installed and the hardwood flooring is still a few months off. 

Mr. Andrutis is not overwhelmed by the size of the new school. He said his last project was nearly double the size of the new Barrington Middle School.

"I came from the Veterans Home project," he said, referring to the 261,000-square foot construction project that was recently completed in Bristol. 

"This is a nice little break," he said of the middle school. 

From the gymnasium students can access the new fitness room, which, when finished, will be significantly larger than the fitness room at the high school. There are also new locker rooms. 

Classrooms

Located farther to the south are the classroom floors. Sixth-graders will be on the first floor, seventh-graders on the second and eighth-graders on the third floor. 

The outside of the building has been sprayed with AVP — air vapor barrier. It is gray, which is the same color of the 2-inch insulation board that also surrounds the structure. Eventually, the facade will be covered with bricks and mortar. There are three small samples of bricks and mortar set up near the south side of the building — each sample has a different color mortar. Construction officials quiz bystanders on which mortar was the final selection made by school department leaders. 

The tan-colored one? Nope. 

The lighter gray? Not exactly. 

The medium gray-colored mortar? Yes, that's the one.

Mr. Andrutis said the exterior of the building needs to be buttoned up by Thanksgiving. That's when crews will go heavy into the interior work, such as hanging drywall. Right now the work inside is limited, mostly, to structural improvements — crews frame up walls.

"We'll have the windows in in about two weeks," he said. 

The interior classroom floors will be connected by three stairwells and one elevator. There will be a media center — they used to be called libraries — accessible from the second and third floors. The media center will also feature a mezzanine. 

Protecting the entire structure from the elements is a new welded PVC roof. It's white, which means it reflects the sun and makes the building a bit cooler. There are also large HVAC units located across different sections of the roof. The HVAC units rest atop special pads that are outfitted with springs specially designed to muffle noise and vibrations from people inside the building. 

Student union

Located a short walk from the gymnasium and auditorium is the main office and guidance. There is also the framework for a hallway leading past the robotics and industrial arts labs, to the student union. 

For now, the space is a combination of steel I-beams, cinderblock walls and metal sheet roofing. Before long, however, it will be a handsome space surrounded by windows and brickwork. There will be kitchen equipment and cafeteria tables.

"It will look real pretty when it's all said and done," said Mr. Andrutis.