Kaleb Lawrence, assistant superintendent of operations for Wood County Schools, holds up an example of colored floor titles as Ryan Taylor, CEO of Pickering Associates, explains their usage. Taylor said the different colors will represent the different grades helping staff and students navigate the new building for Lincoln Elementary. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

PARKERSBURG — Ryan Taylor, CEO of Pickering Associates, shared updates on the new Lincoln Elementary to the Wood County Board of Education Tuesday night highlighting the building’s design, materials and the vision for a welcoming learning environment.

Taylor said the project is drawing strong interest from construction companies as the process proceeds.

“It is out to bid right now. We had a really good attendance at the pre-bid, six (general contractors attended), it was a packed house, so pretty exciting,” Taylor said.

He said the design emphasizes both durability and aesthetics, featuring a color scheme of blue, green, and dark gray, with masonry stone and clay veneers for an attractive appearance.

“We wanted to come up with an interior that was very attractive, but also flowed well with elementary, and you’re going to see a strategy,” Taylor said. “It’s a rather attractive building. We think it’ll look nice in North End.”

Members of the Wood County Board of Education look at artist renderings of what the new Lincoln Elementary will look like Tuesday night during its regular meeting. (Photo by Douglass Huxley)

He said a unique feature of the new school will be its color-coded flooring, designed to help students navigate the building.

“We came up with this concept of having different color flooring throughout the facility, and those will be coordinated to the floors in the grades. And so, for instance, when you walk into the lobby, you’ll hit the blue, and it’ll be in these hexagons shaped like this, and it’ll actually flow into the cafeteria, and the colors will change. You can see how the image changes as it kind of leaks under the floor.”

This design extends into the gymnasium and restrooms, with thoughtful touches for both function and school spirit.

“We will continue that blue for Lincoln and the Lincoln Lions, and then throughout the restrooms, we will carry some color. So as you walk down the hallway, you will have corridors, and you know that might be the green is second fourth grade. This purple color is pre-K. The reddish is kindergarten, third grade will be this orange. This allows the teachers to give good instruction on how to navigate this 50,000 plus square foot building.”

The board also heard updates that included:

* Williamstown Turf Project (field, gates, concession stand, roof, weight room, locker room)

* Parkersburg South High School turf project (field, soccer goal markings, shot put, discus)

* Martin Elementary access road and parking lot improvements

* Jackson Secure Entrance Project

Taylor provided an update on the construction of the new Lubeck school, highlighting both the progress made and the challenges faced due to weather.

“Rain’s impacted it somewhat, got a little bit of a slow start, but you’re going to be amazed how much they’ve gotten done,” Taylor said, emphasizing the resilience and hard work of the construction team.

He said despite the rain, recent good weather has allowed the project to move ahead, and the site is now taking shape with major earthwork and infrastructure underway.

He said key features of the site include a large pond, significant elevation changes and new parking lot and road infrastructure. During excavation, he said the team discovered a cistern and a well, which required quick field engineering to address and ensure proper site preparation.

“And so we had to do some quick field engineering to properly compact and remove that, because that was to be in the middle of the building,” Taylor said.

Taylor also asked the board to allow the superintendent to apply for a School Building Authority grant to install a sprinkler system and window replacement for Madison Elementary.

“We would like to apply for a sprinkler system in Madison, and would like to apply for windows in Madison,” Taylor told the board. “You guys are investing in Madison. You’re putting an addition on some other things. It would be very, very nice if we could (install a sprinkler system) to the building and have new windows instead of windows from 1950.”

Taylor said Superintendent Christie Willis was tasked with advocating for the funding from the SBA.

“The pressure’s going to be on Christie. She’s got to go do a superintendent interview,” Taylor said. “So she’s got to go sell. So we’ll give her some good images and talk about what the costs are going to be.”

Taylor said funding is limited to a million dollars but this project falls significantly under that.

“We think it’ll be very attractive. It hits all the points of energy efficiency, safety, and adaptive reuse of the facility,” Taylor said. “So I think it’s an attractive offer to SBA interview teams.”

Douglass Huxley can be reached at dhuxleyt@newsandsentinel.com.