Fairmont Heights High School Replacement
Hyattsville, Md.
Award of Merit

Owner: Prince George’s County Public Schools
Lead Design Firm: Grimm + Parker Architects
General Contractor: Grunley Construction Co.
Civil Engineer: Total Civil Construction
Structural Engineer: ReStl Designers Inc.
Mechanical Engineer: Allen & Shariff
Plumbing Engineer: KES Engineering Inc.
Subcontractors: AC&R Foam Insulators LLC; Baltimore Waterproofing Inc.; Celsue Construction Inc. (Site Concrete); Delaware Cornerstone Builders Inc. (MEP Insulator); Denison Landscaping Inc.; Ennis Electric Co. Inc.; Fulgent Contracting Corp. (Structural Steel); KaRon Masonry Inc.; L&L Enterprises Inc. (Sheeting and Shoring); Linear Surveys Inc.; Northeast Contracting Inc. (Roofing); Precision Wall Tech Inc. (Painting); Ronco Mechanical Contractors; Ruston Paving Co.; Shapiro & Duncan Inc. (Mechanical and Plumbing); Summit Construction Inc. (Drywall and Ceilings); Tobar Construction Inc. (Concrete); Total Civil Construction and Engineering Inc.

This 193,200-sq-ft high school is a fitting successor, the team says, to a locally cherished, historically significant facility that no longer supported the needs of contemporary education. The 33-acre project, located on part of an unused golf course, required a phased sitework strategy that county regulation limited to 20 acres of land disturbance at a time. During the project’s first year, approximately 350,000 cu yd of soil was removed to make way for the building pad and surrounding underground utilities so that vertical construction could proceed at the same time as other site improvements. Subsequent phases included leveling a hilly, six-acre section to make room for athletic facilities.

The team says the school is a model of sustainability that includes a 49,000-sq-ft underground precast stormwater management facility that can store 1.75 million gallons of runoff for gradual release to the community’s sewage system. There also are a 3.5-acre geothermal system, a vegetated roof, rain gardens and bioswales. Despite the owner’s unexpected request to accelerate the construction schedule by 200 days, as well as procurement delays and a major blizzard, the project team completed the $82.5-million school in less than 30 months, ensuring that the building was ready to receive students in fall 2017.

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