Consultant: renovating a 24/7 police facility without swing space is complex and costly

David Stein, a principal with consulting firm Silver Petrucelli, told the meeting the town faces a difficult choice because the police building operates continuously and lacks 'swing space' to stage construction work. "You can't turn the boiler down and do a replacement over a weekend," he said, underscoring how operating requirements make phased renovation slow and expensive.

Stein said the building’s shell and superstructure are in generally good shape but many mechanical, accessibility and programmatic systems are out of date. He added that escalation in construction costs and modern energy and indoor-air requirements contributed to higher projections in both renovation and new-construction scenarios.