Building Blythewood High School

$32 million project features wealth of amenities

By Bea Quirk

Blythewood High School in Richland County, S.C., won't open until fall 2005, but it's already a site to behold.

The two-story, 298,000-sq.-ft., two-story building partially wraps around a natural pond, which is also part of the site's drainage system, and features lots of windows and skylights for picturesque views of the pond and surrounding woods.

Its impressive list of amenities includes two academic (classroom) wings, meeting rooms, music rooms, labs, workrooms, administration offices, kitchen/cafeteria, media center, cyber café, an auditorium, two gyms and locker areas, plus student and faculty parking lots, baseball, softball and soccer fields, a track, practice field and tennis courts.

The $32 million school is designed to eventually hold 2,000 students and is coming in at a cost of $98 per sq. ft. It should be completed and open in the fall of 2005.

"It's one of the most complicated schools I've ever built," said Leland Reynolds of H.G. Reynolds Co. of Aiken, S.C., one of four prime contractors working on the site. "But it's also going to be one of the most impressive schools in the state."

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Forrest King, project manager for construction manager Southern Management Group in Columbia, S.C., called it "a functional yet elegant building."

A tightly controlled, detail-oriented construction management process headed by Southern Management Group has enabled the project to stay on track and under budget. While quality has always been a prime concern, Southern Management has used every trick of the architectural, construction and engineering trades to get as much bang for the buck as possible.

The total bond package approved by Richland County voters was $52.1 million, which included the costs for both the school and a multischool football stadium located on the same site. The first step was to split the bond into two separate projects.

The stadium, costing $3.4 million, opens this fall and was handled by a single contractor, Tyler Construction of Columbia, S.C.

The school was designed by a partnership between The Boudreaux Group of Columbia and Perkins & Will, a national firm with extensive school experience. They have remained intensely involved in the construction.

But even before design specs were completed, Southern Management bid out the initial sitework. L. Dean Weaver Construction Co. of Pamplico, S.C., began work in August 2002, and building contractors took over the site in January 2003.

By that time, Southern Management's tight control was apparent. Much of the 138-acre site is wetlands, so site designs had to be reviewed and approved (plus remediation efforts undertaken) by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control.

Although this process often delays projects, Weaver was able to use existing logging trails to get to the site to undertake some work even before final approvals were received. As part of the remediation agreement, much of the site will remain undeveloped, and additional trees were planted.

Site drainage was a major challenge, said David Lindsay, Southern Management's project director. "It's a very flat site with a high water table and a lot of moist soils," he added. "It required extensive drainage structures."

That included modifying the shape of an existing pond and using it as part of the drainage and irrigation system.

"Changing that pond didn't come cheap, but it was worthwhile," Lindsay said. "It will contribute to the long-term health of the building."

Lindsay said Southern Management's attitude was, "Every challenge has a solution - it's a matter of finding it."

He said that when initial construction bids came in over budget, the team took a focused approach to find $2.5 million in cost avoidances, including streamlining wall and glazing systems, analyzing sizes of space and "looking at everything from a true value-engineering standpoint."

For example, when looking for the most efficient mechanical system, the team decided to go with a hybrid system and had a self-contained customized penthouse system built offsite by Trane.

Because of the cost savings generated, some high-end touches have been added. The exterior features glass and both aluminum composite and metal wall panels, as well as three different colored bricks for accent bands. Most of the floors in the common areas will feature epoxy terrazzo rather than typical vinyl tile.

Bids for the high school project were sent out for single and multi-prime contractors. The multicontractor bids came in cheaper. "We are the coordinator and the facilitator among all the primes, the owner and the architect," Lindsay said. "That meant a general contractor didn't have to play that role and so less project management hours were needed, leading to a lower bid."

Timing was good, too. "We hit the market at the right time," he added. "Contractors were hungry for work, and it was before the spikes in the cost of steel and petroleum."

The four primes are Reynolds as general contractor; Burris Electric Co. of Lexington, S.C., electrical systems; W.B. Guimarin of Columbia, plumbing and HVAC; and Thompson & Little of Fayetteville, N.C., food service and kitchen equipment.

With four contractors working onsite with an average of 150 workers, Southern Management has its hands full coordinating the construction process. Yet it has been able to keep change orders to a minimum.

"Every request or change goes through us, so we know everything that's going on," King said. "We thoroughly document everything in our daily reports. We also monitor progress, review safety issues and assist the architects in quality control."

Lindsay added: "We are a clearinghouse for everything, but we also have an active, involved and intelligent team. It's not a one-sided thing - it's a true team effort among the contractors, owner and architects."