By BRAD GASKINS / Staff Writer

CALERA – Renovations and construction of additions for Calera’s new middle school will start Sept. 1, according to Steven Blalock, owner of Trussville-based Blalock Building Company.

Blalock Building was awarded an $11.7 million bid from the Shelby County Board of Education to turn the old Shelby Academy Building into the new middle school, which school officials have said should be ready for the 2012-13 school year.

“There’s a ton of infrastructure and site improvements to complete,” Blalock said Aug. 30.

The board of education bought Shelby Academy for $1.3 million. The 34-acre property includes a building with 16 classrooms, a science lab and a gym.

Blalock Building will renovate the existing building of about 42,000 square feet and construct two additions to add about 63,000 square feet of building space to the campus.

Renovations to the existing building will include revamped classrooms, gym and locker rooms, Blalock said.

A two-story addition will hold new classrooms, administration offices and a media center, Blalock said. A new single-story addition will house a new cafeteria and kitchen.

Turn lanes will be added off Shelby County 22, Blalock said. A “ring road” will go around the campus, which will have new parking lots and bus lanes, he said.

The new school will have 34 or 35 classrooms, according to Tom Ferguson, the assistant superintendent of operations for Shelby County Schools.

The new middle school will be called Calera Middle School and should be ready in time for the fall 2012 semester, Ferguson said.

Ferguson said the new school will include students from the existing Calera Middle School zone and would not draw students away from other middle schools.