NORTH SMITHFIELD - The future North Smithfield Middle School has a shiny new face - and those who have seen it say when tours of its interior commence, the entire package will blow residents away.

Just five weeks from completion, it's anyone's guess whether higher-than-expected operating costs could keep the new middle school from opening on time this fall, but those in charge of planning the school are focusing on the positive: a building they say is so well thought out, it could last for the next 100 years.

"It's a wonderfully well-designed and well-built building," Superintendent Stephen Lindberg told The Breeze last week, as Gilbane construction crews continued putting the finishing touches on the 105,000-square-foot school, on Greenville Road.

Gilbane Project Manager Charlie Roberts told The Breeze that if not for recent rainy weather, curbing along Route 5 and paving of parking lots surrounding the new school would be complete. That work, he said, should be largely finished sometime this week, the last pre-cast light base already installed.

"There's quite a bit of parking here if they have something at night," said Roberts.

Roberts said the best features of the new school are its multi-use rooms and the efficiency with which it will be run, with two of the "best boilers you can buy" heating the entire school. A sensitive internal heating control system will keep nearly the entire building, three floors with identical layout, on exactly the same temperature schedule.

Twenty-eight miles of data cable will mean all floors and nearly all rooms in the middle school will have top-of-the-line technology.

"The computer system is a hub for the whole district and is capable of (serving) the entire town," said Roberts.

The new middle school, when it opens, will effectively separate high school and middle school students, with the high school remaining next door and 6th-graders added to the middle school.

Giving a tour with Roberts last week, School Building Commission co-chairperson David Chamberland said that everything, right down to the color of paint used on each of the school's three floors, has been thought out at great length.

"This is a conservative town, so we went with conservative colors," he said, of multiple variations on each floor of the green and gold school colors. Those muted color patterns, he said, will keep the school from quickly dating itself and will complete a structure residents can be proud of for many years.

Last week, "curtain wall" faux glass paneling was installed in the corners of the middle school, effectively closing in the entire building and allowing painting and final flooring to be completed.

Curtain wall is designed to resist infiltration of water and wind, as well as earthquakes. the see-through walls are designed to span multiple floors, dealing with thermal expansion and contraction, building sway and movement, and helping create efficient heating, cooling, and lighting in a building.

The curtain wall combined with the new silver lettering on the front of the school creates a sparkling scene when the sun hits it right.

Glass basketball hoops were to be delivered to the new middle school gym this week, the central portion of the school that will cut down on needless walking through the school's hallways, according to Roberts. Wood flooring will be installed starting May 19, with retractable bleachers going in three weeks later.

The new track and football field behind the middle and high school, featuring the same artificial grass surface used at Gillette Stadium, is also nearing completion, according to Roberts.

"It'll take unlimited abuse," said Chamberland, of the artificial surface he said is able to drain up to 10 inches of rain each hour. Sports teams in North Smithfield will likely be able to start practicing as early as February, he said as the field naturally absorbs sunlight and melts any snow. The only other fields in the state like North Smithfield's are at Moses Brown School and Bishop Hendricken High School.

The school's baseball and softball fields, and overlooking hills with "natural seating" are also nearly done, with a 50,000 gallon fire protection tank installed last week between the two. Pressure testing for the school's sprinklers is scheduled to commence sometime this week or next.