When the COVID-19 pandemic sent students and staff home last spring before the scheduled end of the school year, McCarthy Building Companies identified innovative ways to streamline project schedules and save costs for clients such as the Parkway School District in St. Louis County.
Despite the numerous pandemic-related challenges, including supply chain slowdowns, newly implemented safety protocols and labor shortages, McCarthy has successfully completed the first phase of a three-year program for the district.
The $55 million work program involves nearly every school building in the Parkway School District, which serves 17,500 students from early childhood through high school, and encompasses 18 elementary schools, five middle schools and five high schools.
Parkway selected McCarthy to oversee the bond program as construction manager at risk, a first for a school district in the St. Louis area due to Parkway’s desire to improve its outcomes from the significant taxpayer investment. McCarthy’s scope of work, which continues every summer through 2022, ranges from HVAC and security upgrades to classroom renovations, roof replacements and more.
When the closing of an overseas factory caused a 10-week delay in the expected delivery of two switchboards needed for electrical rooms, McCarthy relied on its extensive network of local trade partners to develop a solution and identify a way to make the switchboards locally. In another instance, the manufacturer of a compressor for a rooftop heating and cooling unit agreed to install a standard compressor until the specified digital compressor became available. This creative solution added no additional cost to the district and enabled the buildings to be completed on schedule.
Work completed this summer on the $17 million first phase focused on renovations at five schools, including:
- Bellerive Elementary School: interior demolition and reconfiguration to provide acoustical separation, new ductwork branch line and lighting.
- Central Middle School: construction of a new secure entry lobby and waiting area with resource office, replacing entry drive hardscapes and landscaping, replacing and adding new high-efficiency rooftop units (RTUs), and utility upgrades.
- Hanna Woods Elementary School: extending corridor walls full height to separate classrooms from corridor prior to installing new ceilings, as well as duck work modifications and new corridor lighting.
- Southwest Middle School: construction of a new secure entry lobby and waiting area with resource center office, replacing 20 RTUs and adding 11 new heat pumps, removing and capping 32 curb-mounted skylights prior to full roof and skylight replacement, in addition to installing new entry drive hardscapes, parking lot, landscaping and minor utility upgrades.
- Wren Hollow Elementary School: interior demolition and reconfiguration of partitions in two classrooms for acoustical separation, replacing wheelchair lifts with concrete ramps, and replacing dock area hardscapes, site steps, and playground landscaping.
