Plans for the new Nitschmann MS continue on track as the Bethlehem Area School District selected the companies who will pursue Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. The certification system was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.

The school board approved hiring The Stone House Group in Bethlehem to perform the LEED commissioning services for the new middle school. In this capacity, Stone House will oversee the electrical and heating, ventilation and air conditioning plans to insure that they are developed to meet LEED Gold certification requirements.

"They will verify that the functionality of the designs actually do work the way they were designed," said M. Arif Fazil, principal for D'Huy Engineering Inc., which is the district's project manager.

Fazil explained that the school district secured a $2 million alternative and clean energy (ACE) grant for the middle school project. The grant is for high performing systems that meet the LEED Gold certification standards. Hiring a company to insure those standards are met is necessary to fulfill the grant requirements. This is the roll that Stone House will fill, Fazil explained.

In addition to grant incentives, the district is pursuing the certification in order to reap energy savings. According to the U.S. Green Building website, structures that meet LEED certification standards will see up to a 40 percent savings in their energy and water bill costs.

The school district anticipates the work to be done by Stone House to cost $120,000. In addition to the commissioning services, the school board also approved hiring Tri-State Balancing Co. in Bethlehem to perform testing, adjusting and balancing services for the new middle school. This work is expected to cost $60,520.

Fazil explained that Tri-State's role in the LEED certification is to make sure the mechanics of the plan are correct. Where Stone House makes sure the plan is correct for LEED, Tri-State will make sure it performs as expected. They do this through testing. For example, they will test to see if the air flow is correct for the time of day and adjusts as scheduled for usage needs.

Fazil said it was important to hire both of these companies now in order to have them involved in the construction project from the beginning. By doing this, the process to obtain LEED certification will run more smoothly.

"You're better off doing all of the checks and balances before it's built, so that at the very end it's basically checking that it does," he said.

The new Nitschmann MS is expected to be 180,000 square feet, which is 30,000 square feet larger than the current buidiling. The new structure was needed because the current school does not have an auditorium, auxiliary gymnasium, band and choral rooms and the science rooms are inadequately sized, Fazil said. Allentown firm Breslin, Ridyard and Fadero Architects were hired to design the building.

The new school will be built behind the current one with construction expected to begin in the spring. A call for bids for the prime contractors will be made in January and chosen by March 27, Fazil said. The overall cost is expected to be about $55.2 million.

Bethlehem Area School District Superintendent Joseph Roy said the new middle school has been needed for a while. The project actually began in 2007 but when the recession hit in 2008, the district put the construction project on hold. With improvements in the economy, the district decided to push forward with the new school.

Roy said the school district hired contractors and an architect from the area, because they want to support local businesses. So far the project is progressing as expected.

"We are on the timeline," Roy said. "Late spring, we will break ground."