HOBART | Construction crews only have until August to complete renovation work on the former Hobart High School and so far, they're ahead of schedule.

"It's moving fast and furious," School City of Hobart Superintendent Peggy Buffington said. "It's remarkable to think we were just having classes in there in December."

Tim Flatt and Chris LaFollette, project managers with Envoy Inc., said in many parts of the building, crews are days, and in some cases weeks, ahead of schedule.

"We're about three weeks ahead in the office area," LaFollette said.

Crews started demolition work on Dec. 22, and with about 35 working days since, they've already set new plumbing and electrical lines where needed and are framing new walls to separate classrooms, Flatt said.

Throughout the building, crews are about 50 percent to 75 percent done with asbestos remediation, removing flooring tile and also tables in the school's science labs. The school's library has also been largely gutted and will be outfitted with new shelving units and wireless networking.

And while most of the work is intended to make the 50-year-old structure feel like a new building, one aspect will be going back in time. School Board President Terry Butler said the concession stand outside of the gymnasium will be moving to the location it originally occupied when the building first opened. Crews even found the existing electrical and plumbing work behind the walls and were able to easily reconnect, Flatt said.

LaFollette said some large equipment is on site to begin exterior work, but with recent blasts of wintery weather, they've had to postpone it. He said as soon as the weather breaks, likely in the next week or two, the exterior work will commence.