Members of the Town of Needham Finance Committee on Oct. 8 heard an update from the school building committee on schematic designs, site work and procurement approach for a proposed combined middle school.

A committee member said architects presented updated massing and layout sketches for two candidate sites (referred to as "Collar" and "DeFazio" in the discussion). The presenter requested site visits and basic staking to help committee members visualize building footprints relative to existing site features, and said traffic analyses for both sites are scheduled to begin next week.

The committee also voted to apply to the Inspector General's office for permission to use a construction-manager-at-risk (CM at-risk) project delivery method. The presenter said the town has used the CM at-risk method on two prior projects (a Newman HVAC project and the public-safety project) and that bringing the construction manager in earlier can help with schematic design and construction planning when work occurs adjacent to occupied buildings.

There were no final site decisions at the Oct. 8 meeting; the presenter said further presentations and data (traffic studies, site visits and design refinements) will inform committee recommendations.