A specially designed foundation is being used at two schools known as the ’twin schools’ in Jackson, MS, currently under construction to deal with expansive soils caused by Yazoo Clay. Harrell Construction Group, of Jackson, began constructing McWillie Elementary School and Van Winkle Elementary School on Aug. 22. Completion of both buildings, which will house 550 students each, is scheduled for this September. Ed Van Sice, director of construction of the Jackson Public School District, said a crawl space is being added to both buildings, because of the expansive soils. “Each building is 69,700 sq. ft. The crawl space will be beneath the entire building footprint with 6 ft. of head room on average,” said Van Sice. He added, “The foundation design at each new school calls for a suspended structural slab which is completely isolated from the expansive layers and bears on stable strata some 35 ft. down on drilled concrete piers.” The piece of machinery used to drill for the reinforced concrete piers is a hydraulic auger drill rig. The piers range from 16 to 18 in. (41 to 46 cm) in diameter and extend an average of 30 ft. (9 m) deep. “Each pier is required to be flared or ’belled’ at the base to 36 in. in diameter. This is done to better distribute the load implied by the weight on the building. Each building calls for 140 drilled piers,” said Van Sice. The drilling work, earthwork, masonry work, steel and rebar work are being done by subcontractors. Harrell is performing the concrete work. Not only is the foundation design special, so is the overall design for both schools. The district’s superintendent Jayne Sargent asked Van Sice to pursue the “learning house” concept, because she had become familiar with it in traveling to various conferences across the country. Van Sice said opinion also were sought by the Educational Design Institute, which reflected the community’s input. The architect on both projects is Dale & Associates, in Jackson. Jeff Barnes is the project architect. “From this, a design steering committee was commissioned to work with the architect’s office through each phase of design. The committee included educational professionals, parents, teachers, business community leaders and school district support staff,” said Van Sice. He noted that the “learning house” concept for each school dedicates zones of the school by age group and makes them architecturally independent to the rest of the building. “The only exception to this is the central administration and commons areas such as the library/media center, cafeteria and general assembly areas. This concept brings the environment down to scale at each school,” said Van Sice. Each school has five learning houses with five classrooms per house. Each learning house has its own small commons or “family room” area for class productions/presentations or play during inclement weather. One can travel from house to house by an interconnecting, glass walkway. Also included in each house is a home skills lab which includes a full working kitchenette and a teacher resource/office area. Located between the learning houses are nine architecturally contained learning gardens. These gardens, flanked by covered porches, are programmed to be utilized by individual classrooms for outdoor projects and biological studies. Van Sice explained that the learning house concept is new to Mississippi, but has been used in other areas of the country. “But, we aren’t aware of any which have included the amenities I have mentioned,” he added. A $3-million levy secured by the district as part of a $35-million capitol improvement project is paying for the schools. The cost to construct McWillie is $7.6 million with $458,700 in architect fees. The cost to construct Van Winkle is $8 million with $313,755 in architect fees. Van Sice said the school district decided to keep the schools single story because it had enough space to do so at both sites. “From a functionality perspective, masonry veneer with concrete block wall construction with a steel superstructure have been proven performers for school construction,” he added. “This, coupled with a tapered asphalt roofing system for the building envelope and a mechanical system regulated by an integrated energy management system should produce an easily maintained building for the next 40 years,” said Van Sice. Brad Bradshaw, Harrell project manager for both schools, said 20 of Harrell’s personnel are working at each site in addition to 12 to 15 subcontractors at each site. The crews are working 8 to 10 hours a day, six days a week, depending on the weather. Each project has a general superintendent who supervises day to day operations. Tommy Miller is the general superintendent at McWillie while Norris King is the general superintendent at Van Winkle. “The scope of work is usually a slab on grade, which is much easier to put in than a slab on deck,” said Bradshaw. Harrell is using the same equipment at each site. It includes two John Deere 120s and one John Deere 410 backhoe. Subcontractors are providing their own equipment. Each building is roughly 250 ft. by 150 ft. by 5 ft. (76.2 by 46 by 1.5 m) deep. Work at the McWillie site is about a month ahead of the Van Winkle site, said Bradshaw, because “the piling sub could only drill one job at a time.” Bradshaw estimated that approximately 30,000 cu. yds. (22,937 cu m) of dirt had to be moved at each site. About 3,000 cu. yds. (2,294 cu m) is being brought in at the parking lots. Harrell Construction, which was started five years ago, performs commercial, heavy commercial and industrial jobs. It is licensed to work in Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Kentucky. Bradshaw said the company’s philosophy is “Be safe. Be on time. Have a satisfied owner that wants to do repeat business with our company. Treat our employees and subcontractors well. Pay and get paid in a timely manner.” According to Bradshaw, the company is working on other jobs simultaneously including hotel projects. Van Sice said buildings at both sites that formerly housed McWillie and Van Winkle elementary schools will be demolished once the new schools are completed. Currently, school offices are located at the McWillie site while a fully occupied school is at the Van Winkle site. This story also appears on Construction Equipment Guide.
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