Larchmont Elementary School

Larchmont Elementary School
Serving PreK-5th Grade with a premedical sciences theme.

Larchmont School, a new two-story, Pre-K through 5th grade school, serves as the replacement for Larchmont Elementary School, which was located on the same site. The former building and site amenities stayed in operation during construction of the new facility, and were demolished and replaced upon completion.

The configuration of spaces is geared toward collaborative and project-based learning. The design of the new school includes a one-story common use area that houses the cafeteria, media center, gymnatorium, and administration area, as well as a two-story learning community containing classrooms, small-group shared project rooms, art, science, computer and multi- purpose labs centered around a common central stairway. Grade levels are separated by floors and wings in the learning community area.

The building facade blends into the surrounding community and contains design features reminiscent of the existing 1920s era school building. Site features include separate vehicular (parent drop-off area) and bus traffic entrances as well as clearly defined areas for neighborhood pedestrian traffic, multi-use play fields and an outdoor classroom. The school is designed as a joint-use community facility which calls for separate entrances for the common use spaces and learning community area.

The new building design is conceived to maximize energy efficiency by implementing sustainable concepts such as day lighting, building placement on the site to maximize sun exposure and utilizing a high efficiency HVAC system. The building is Energy Star Certified with a score of 96.

S.B. Ballard built the new school within 100 yards of the fully functioning existing school. The team took the following precautions to make this a success:

1. Located existing utilities and documented them on a map for all subcontractors to review and sign off on. This conveyed the importance of not interfering with any utilities that would affect the existing school during hours of operation.
2. Communicated directly with the school’s Principal and Parent Teacher Association to ensure the construction activity would not interfere with extra- curricular activities associated with the school or neighborhood functions. Such functions included field day, neighborhood carnivals, parades, etc.
3. Met with owner representatives to develop a logistics plan and temporary parking lot that would not interfere with any school functions. The team had to provide 36 parking spaces during the construction of the new school and came to a resolution with the School System and the City.
4. Prohibited deliveries to the jobsite at the beginning and end of each school day to ensure safety of all students, parents, faculty, and staff. We included this zero delivery clause (from 8:30AM to 9:45AM and 2:30PM to 3:30PM) in all subcontractor contracts. We considered the zero deliveries requirement a top priority and discussed this every week during weekly safety meetings and subcontractor meetings.
5. Place a full-time water tank on site to prevent any and all dust from leaving the construction site. Our team would drive the water tank around the site as needed in order to prevent the dust from interfering with the students or the community.

Norfolk Public Schools Modernization

The S.B. Ballard Construction Company’s Project Team was awarded the contract to build five (5) schools for the City of Norfolk, totaling 564,982 SF. This project involved the design and construction of these new facilities at five (5) different locations and demolition of the older existing facilities. The Project Team performed the work in overlapping phases which allowed all five schools to be completed in a 5 year span.

The Public-Private Partnership / Design-Build process provided the platform for the Project Team to engage the public in numerous community meetings throughout Norfolk, VA. The team held forums in each area’s school zone to gather community input and discuss plans for each new school. The Project Team took the  public  input  from  the community meetings and incorporated this feedback into the different programs that were outlined by the City of Norfolk and Norfolk Public Schools (the City and School System). Special attention was also given to the existing design and construction of the surrounding buildings as well as the specific needs of the local neighborhoods and businesses for the new school construction.

The City and School System saved millions of dollars in design, engineering, construction costs, and FF&E costs through economies of scale for design and construction and bulk purchases of furniture and equipment. This approach saved valuable time and money during the development of construction drawings.

Constructability issues were minimized through the collaboration of the design and construction teams and the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM). S. B. Ballard Construction Company successfully managed and coordinated this complex project to build, demolish, and transition students and faculty from the old schools to the new school buildings with no interruption. This detailed, multi-phased success story is a testament to S.B. Ballard Construction Company’s due diligence in working with the local communities, City and School System to learn about their needs and deliver on our commitment.