By Mary Ellen Godin Record-Journal staff

MERIDEN — Students entering or returning to Platt High School in three weeks will take classes in a new academic wing and play on new athletic fields, but will have to wait until January for a gymnasium and auditorium.

With three out of four phases complete, workers on the $118 million Platt renovation project are now demolishing a large portion of the old building on the northeastern side to make way for the gymnasium, auditorium and administrative offices, said Michael Grove, assistant school superintendent.

But construction workers have run into a problem with asbestos-containing material in the school’s main gymnasium, which has delayed demolition by several weeks, said project facilitator Glenn Lamontagne. It wasn’t immediately clear if the added work would put the project over budget.

Metal clamps from the old gym floor left thousands of indentations in the concrete slab under it. Those indentations hold an asbestos-containing material, so the entire slab needs to be treated and mitigated.

Environmental engineer Fuss & O’Neill Inc. and general contractor O&G Industries Inc. were working with school officials on the best way to deal with the problem.

“That’s proven more difficult and that’s pushed us back a couple of weeks,” Lamontagne said.