Students were busy in the classrooms of Lehighton Area Middle School last week, but behind the scenes, a "building team" was deep in the bowels of the 52-year-old structure preparing for an approximately $10.7 million renovation.

Representatives from Trane Comprehensive Solutions, the mechanical contractor for the project; Gatter and Diehl Inc., project engineer; and El Associates, project architect, spent Thursday reviewing the middle school's current heating, ventilation and air conditioning system.Two H.B. Smith boilers, original to the building, will be replaced during the main part of the renovation."We're doing electrical upgrades throughout the building, so the team is here looking at what is going to work for us," Superintendent Jonathan Cleaver said. "They will also recommend what type of heating system is going to be the most efficient for us. That hasn't been decided yet, and we need to do that before moving to construction drawings."The goals for the new HVAC system are simple."It's going to be more maintenance friendly, and it will almost certainly be smaller with less piping and less mechanics," Cleaver said. "We're aiming for energy efficiency. That is one of the driving factors behind this project."Lehighton has been awarded a maximum $1.45 million of Alternative and Clean Energy grant funding for the project."How it works is that we submit a bill that is part of the project, for example asbestos abatement that we are going to be doing, and we will be reimbursed 10 percent of that cost," Cleaver said. "A new twist is that we can only make 20 submissions, so what we'll be doing is getting several bills together before we make a submission."Unlike a 1962 HVAC system, the new one will make use of modern technology.According to Lehighton Building and Grounds Director Joe Hauser, the system will feature automated building system control."We'll be able to control things from an iPad or a laptop," he said.The middle school project will be done in conjunction with an HVAC renovation at the high school. The high school project is slated to cost $9.3 million.A $32.5 million elementary center is still on the table, and if it is built, all three buildings would likely have similar HVAC systems."Consistency is the key," Hauser said. "When everything is the same across the board, it just makes things easier for future maintenance."Elsewhere Thursday, El Associates representative Andrew Blaydon canvassed the middle school's classrooms and auditorium, verifying existing documentation from previous projects is correct."We are currently accounting for all existing conditions of the building as part of the design process," Blaydon said. "I would describe what we are doing as a very detailed walk-through of the building. It's not the most exciting part of the process, but it's something we have to do to make sure the project is done correctly."Other parts of the project include classroom relocation. Sixth-grade classes will be on the first floor with all of the shared facilities, including the cafeteria. The second floor would house seventh and eighth grade.A new secure entrance will route visitors through the main office area before they can enter the rest of the building."You're probably looking at a two-year project," Cleaver said. "In about a year, it will look like it's mostly done, but there will be little things left to do. We're hoping by August 2016 we will be done with both the high school and middle school projects."