Workers will have to replace a drainage system for the new Newton North High School, according to the state Plumbing Board.
After construction workers installed pipes that did not conform to the state’s building code, the city applied to the Plumbing Board on Oct. 7 for a variance to allow the pipes to remain. The piping sends water from the building’s roof and drainage system to a 40,000 gallon tank, where it is then reused for flushing toilets at the school.
Project managers used piping that is not allowed under the state’s building code, and the piping was installed in inappropriate material (crushed tar) by laborers instead of plumbers, inspectors from the Plumbing Board said at an Oct. 28 meeting.
“There is was very poor workmanship at this location which means the installed system has a likelihood of failure,” read the minutes of the meeting.
At that meeting, the board unanimously voted to deny the city’s variance. Mayoral spokesman Jeremy Solomon said the city has received that denial and is preparing a response.
Slated to cost $197.5 million, the new Newton North is already slated to be the most expensive high school ever built in Massachusetts. The cost of these changes are not yet known.
The new school is scheduled to open in Sept. 2010.
