Making the Grade

Crews Pass the Test Despite Difficult Site on New North Vegas School

By Tony Illia

Built on donated land requiring ample prep work, this new $77 million, 333,654-sq-ft structure in North Las Vegas is the third iteration of Clark County School District’s prototype high school.

CORE Construction is in its senior year of work on a new high school in North Las Vegas.

The high school consists of a main two-level building that houses 200 classrooms organized around a central mall.

Image courtesy TSKA

The $77 million, still-unnamed school is situated on 46.9 acres at Carey Avenue and Los Feliz Street, just east of Liliam Lujan Hickey Elementary School and southeast of Dr. William H. Bailey Middle School. It is scheduled for completion in May.

The three schools create an educational campus from kindergarten through 12th grade, and their proximity to one another will improve busing efficiency and fuel mileage.

While the high school property was donated to the Clark County School District from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, it was inherited in a state of disrepair. North Las Vegas-based VT Construction Inc. performed the job’s $4 million worth of site work.

“The School District received the site ‘as is’ since it was free, but it was covered with illegally dumped trash with everything from old tires to used couches,” says Ladd Gilbert, president of VT Construction.

Some of the 50,000 cu yds worth of garbage was recycled onsite. The rest was carted away to a landfill, requiring 533 truck trips to remove it all.

Other sitework included excavating down 150 ft and importing 450,000 cu yds of clean soil. VT utilized 15 Caterpillar 657 scrapers, each with a 40-cu-yd capacity, during the height of activity.

Fortunately, American Asphalt & Grading Co. of Las Vegas operates an aggregate pit abutting the school site.

advertisement

The project, which broke ground in August 2007, consists of a main, two-level, block and steel-framed building that rests atop a slab foundation with footings. Service Rock Products, Henderson, is the concrete supplier; Las Vegas-based Frasier Masonry Corp. the block contractor; and Tech-Steel Inc. of Clearfield, Utah, is furnishing the job’s 1,400 tons worth of iron.

The 48-ft-tall, 333,654-sq-ft structure houses 200 classrooms organized around an 80,000-sq-ft central mall. The double-height area is daylighted with clerestory windows.

“People will walk into a big, open mall area that takes full advantage of the natural light,” says Windom Kimsey, president and CEO of Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects, the project’s Henderson-based architect. “With this mall concept the students are in a controlled environment from a security and climate perspective.”

The AIA-awarded prototype design is oriented on an east-west axis to maximize natural light. This is the third high school built under this prototype.

Photo courtesy CORE

The prototype design received an award from the American Institute of Architects, Nevada Chapter. The building is oriented on an east-west axis to maximize natural light with 80 skylights that allow diffuse sunshine to filter indoors.

“The school uses nearly 50% more natural light than the district’s previous high school design,” says Gary Siroky, president of CORE Construction. “This is now the third high school that we’ve built under the new prototype design.”

The school features a 2,000-sq-ft library, wood shop, six-bay auto repair shop, technology center and art studio with gas and electric kilns. There is also a 453-seat, 3,000-sq-ft performance auditorium with sound, lighting and a raised stage as well as fire-rated chemistry/biology labs equipped with compressed air, purified water and gas.

A maple-floored gymnasium has basketball courts with retractable bleacher seating. The area features 100-ft-wide, column-free spans that required steel I-beam girders up to 6 ft deep.

The building is serviced by 26 roof-mounted air handlers that enable zone climate control. There is a double-height, 1,300-sq-ft, block, central-plant building with two 450-ton chillers and three 3-million-Btu boilers. Quality Mechanical Contractors, Las Vegas, is the heating, ventilation and air-conditioning contractor.

The school has extensive recreational amenities, including baseball and soccer fields, tennis and basketball courts, plus a running track with discus and pole vault areas. A regulation-sized football field has a 48-ft-tall broadcast booth and grandstands capable of seating 5,000.

The various fields resulted in a multi-terraced site requiring seven block retaining walls with the largest measuring 13-ft-tall by 200-ft-long.

“The project will see 250 people during the peak of construction activity,” says Larry Taylor, CORE field operations director. “The job is currently on schedule and on budget.

The school plans an enrollment of about 2,500 when it opens.

The project is part of the School District’s $3.4 billion construction program funded by a 1998 bond referendum. The district recently opted to delay renewing the bond next year because of a lull in enrollment growth, but it will continue to finish its existing construction plans over the next two years, including 23 new schools plus renovations and modernizations.

Key Players:

Owner: Clark County School District
Architect: Tate Snyder Kimsey Architects
General Contractor: CORE Construction of Nevada Inc.
Engineers: Greg Gordon and Associates; L R Nelson Consulting Engineers
Mechanical: Quality Mechanical Contractors
Electrical: Helix Electric
Plumbing: Madera Mechanical
Earthwork: VT Construction Inc.
Steel: Tech-Steel Inc.; Dittmeier Steel Services
Masonry: Frasier Masonry Corp.
Concrete Supplier: Service Rock Products

Click here for next Feature Story >>