Plan Z
Design-Build Process Expedites Work at 22 South Bend Schools
By Steve Kaelble
Want to put extra zip into a design-build project?
Work for a client who is empowered and well organized.
That's what helped Wight & Co. and its partners pull off
a complex project of school renovation and expansion in South
Bend, Ind.
The South Bend Community School Corp., in the midst of a reorganization
of its grade-level structure, needed to accomplish significant
work at a half dozen locations along with smaller tasks at
more than a dozen additional schools. School officials, having
a couple of years earlier experienced a building project that
seemed to never end, wanted this one to proceed rapidly, with
as little interruption as possible to the activities of students
and teachers.
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The project was known as the Plan Z reorganization and totaled
$50.8 million, said Bob Farkas, senior project manager for
Wight & Co., which is based in Downers Grove, Ill., and
maintains a South Bend office.
"That covers the planned capital improvements as well
as renovations and additions to meet a new curriculum and
a shift in the grade levels," he added.
Plan Z divided students among "primary centers"
serving kindergarten through grade 4, "intermediate centers"
housing grades 5-8 and traditional high schools covering grades
9-12.
"We took a series of elementary schools and made them
into intermediate centers," and a high school became
an intermediate center and math/science magnet academy"
Farkas said. He added that the project "touched 22 different
schools."
Wight's relationship with the South Bend schools began in
2000 when Superintendent Joan Raymond recommended that the
company take over management of a high-school construction
project that was 85 percent complete but more than a year
behind schedule. Raymond had worked with Wight while serving
in a job elsewhere, and she hired the company in July 2000
to take charge of the high-school project and have it ready
for classes in the fall.
The company successfully accomplished that mission and was
therefore considered a natural for the massive Plan Z project
when the district was ready to sign a contract two years later.
Wight began work on Plan Z in late summer 2002 and was called
upon to deliver some of the buildings in time for fall 2003
classes and the remaining buildings by the start of classes
this fall.
"Wight Construction Services handled program management,"
using both inside and outside architects and MEP designers,
Farkas said. "We drove it from Day 1 and compressed it
and accelerated it to meet the demand that Dr. Raymond set
for us."
Farkas added that the biggest elements of the project were:
The LaSalle Intermediate Academy was once a high school
and is now a math-science magnet school. Among the highlights
of this building is a new "smart lab" for industrial-technology
students that's filled with high-tech computer-design tools
and manufacturing equipment.
The Kennedy Primary Academy, a 1960s-era building with a
no-longer-workable design, which was gutted. "It was
an open-concept building" without traditional classroom
walls, just 4-ft. masonry dividers, Farkas said. "It
was probably a cool idea in the 1960s, but it wasn't going
to work now," he added. Wight constructed regular classrooms
and support facilities.
The Jefferson Intermediate Center, a 75-year-old building,
which Wight renovated and then constructed an addition. Farkas
said the final product included an addition of about 25,000
sq. ft.
The Marshall Intermediate Center was created from an existing
single-level school. Wight completed a 22,000-sq.-ft. addition.
The Greene Intermediate Center, another existing single-level
school, was expanded by about 13,000 sq. ft.
Wight also coordinated projects at a number of other school
properties. Farkas said South Bend-based Forum Architects
designed roofing at 12 different schools, and M/E Design Services
of nearby Mishawaka designed HVAC systems in eight buildings.
Undertaking such significant work in school buildings requires
a minimum of disruption to student activities. In the schools
that had additions, Wight spent the school year for the most
part focusing on those additions, where classes were not being
held. That left the summer months to tackle renovations in
the remainder of the buildings.
In one case, it was simply not possible to perform enough
of the required work during the off months, so it was necessary
to bring in portable buildings to house some of the classes
during construction.
One of the most difficult parts was conducting HVAC renovations
while school was in session, Farkas said. At one school, for
example, "during the winter we had to limp along on one
boiler," he added. Transitioning to new systems occasionally
left some classrooms too hot or too cold as adjustments were
made.
All buildings also needed to be durable. "Students are
very rough on the building," Farkas said. That means
the use of masonry walls, high-impact drywall and "light
fixtures that can't be pulled out of the ceiling," he
added.
Among the local firms assisting Wight with the Plan Z project
was DLZ Indiana LLC, an architectural engineering firm based
in Ohio, with Indiana headquarters in South Bend.
"DLZ provided site survey, mechanical, electrical and
structural engineering services, and at the Kennedy Primary
Center we provided architectural services," said project
manager Aaron Shultz. The firm was involved at seven of the
schools.
The project required compressed design times, Shultz said.
"We had about five to six months of design, for what
normally would have been close to a year," he added.
Plenty of overtime was needed, but so was close cooperation
of the school corporation, which had personnel specifically
dedicated to interacting with the various contractors. "I
think that was probably the biggest part of the success,"
Shultz said.
"We knew exactly what the owner wanted. They had really
done some good planning."
Equally important, the school corporation gave one person
the authority to make key decisions about design and construction,
rather than insisting that the school board have its hands
in all of the decisions.
When school boards that meet only every week or two become
engaged in the details, "you lose a lot of time waiting
to get approvals," Shultz added.
And while Farkas said he has found some Indiana school officials
to be skeptical of the design-build approach, he added that
the scheduling challenges inherent in this kind of project
make design-build an ideal choice. "It cannot be done
traditionally," he said.
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