MARINE CORPS BASE QUANTICO, Va. -- Marine Corps Base Quantico’s new, consolidated elementary school is about halfway through construction, remaining on target for a Sept. 30, 2014 completion date.
Contractors broke ground for the approximately 130,000-square foot building in April of last year.
Mike Wischnewski, project manager for the Resident Officer in Charge of Construction, said the steel structure for the school, which is being built in front of Quantico Middle/High School, is in place, and workers are building the cinderblock walls and performing initial installation of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
After some weather setbacks, contractors are working on Saturdays to stay on schedule, he said.
“The biggest surprise was just a lot of unforeseen utilities we ran into,” said Wischnewski, explaining that workers encountered unexpected telecom lines for Verizon, Comcast and the base Communications Division, as well as a gas line, where a parking lot will be built near Purvis Road.
The school is a “design-build” project, meaning later stages of the design phase were being worked out while early construction work was being done, and Wischnewski said the final design was just completed and is awaiting signatures.
Early on, planners raised the possibility of photovoltaic panels and possibly even a wind turbine as sources of renewable energy for the building, but Wischnewski said the idea was downsized, as especially the solar panels were deemed not to be cost-effective. Instead, a small, 1.5-kilowatt photovoltaic array and a 1.5-kilowatt turbine will be installed simply as teaching tools.
“The project does have a pretty robust geothermal [climate control] system that’s being installed, and that’s where a lot of the energy efficiency is coming from,” Wischnewski said, adding that the system’s radiant floor heating especially increases efficiency.
He said workers have accommodated a tight parking situation at the middle/high school and Russell Elementary School across the street by shuttling to and from other parking locations. They’ve also accommodated the middle/high school by refraining from noisy work on exam days.
“It’s pretty close to housing, too, and we haven’t heard any [noise] complaints,” Wischnewski said.
Middle/high school Principal Michael Johnson said the construction project in his school’s front yard hasn’t posed any trouble or disruption. “It’s not been a concern to us,” he said. “It’s really not even on our radar.”
The new school is being built where the middle/high school once had an overflow parking lot and sports fields, but Johnson said a parking agreement with Russell Elementary and another agreement with the base for the use of Butler Stadium prevented the construction from disrupting any school activities.
“It shows the benefit of coordination,” he said, noting that all these arrangements were put in place more than a year ago.
After the new elementary school is built, a new middle/high school with new sports fields will be constructed where Russell Elementary now stands, and the $42.3 million contract with Homeland Contracting Corporation and WM Jordan Company for the current construction also includes the demolition of the old elementary school.
Wischnewski said officials will have a few months to outfit the new elementary school with furniture, audiovisual and security systems, and other equipment before the students and faculty can be scheduled to move in. The timeline to move the three schools into the new building is still being developed, as it must coordinate with the funding and procurement of those final items. Russell Elementary is currently scheduled for demolition that April.
Officials just started working on the design for the new middle/high school in the last couple of months. Unlike the new elementary school, the middle/high school will be completely designed before construction starts. Wischnewski said he hoped to have a contract for that construction awarded shortly after Russell Elementary is torn down.
Russell Elementary is about 60 years old, and Ashurst Elementary and the middle/high school were built about 50 years ago. Burrows Elementary is just 22 years old and will continue to house the school district’s superintendent’s offices, as well as a one of three hubs for the Department of Defense Education Activity’s online virtual school.
— Writer: mdicicco@quanticosentryonline.com