Billerica Howe Building Renovation on Track for September Despite Change Orders

BILLERICA — May 11, 2022 — Billerica's Howe building renovation remains on schedule for a September 2022 completion after Town Meeting approved an additional appropriation May 10 to cover change orders. Town Manager John Cameron led a video walkthrough for BATV the following day, reporting that costs remain within the revised budget following a review with the owner's project manager. The largest change order covered repointing the entire exterior of the original historic building — work outside the original scope that Cameron called "a very good decision." The mason, identified as Follin, has also installed new Palladian windows, composite archways, and refabricated lintels replicating the building's original stonework. A new rear addition will serve as BATV's main entrance and introduce ADA elevator access for the first time. In the basement, a temperature-controlled historic archive room has been built to store donated artifacts the town previously had no dedicated space to protect. Pandemic-related steel delays earlier forced design modifications, and Cameron warned finish-work supply issues may cause further delays before the project closes out.