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| Rendering of recently completed Ernest Ward Middle School, designed by Sam Marshall Architects, built by Greenhut Construction Company. Sam Marshall Architects were not/will not be utilized for designing Escambia County's newest proposed middle school to be built in Beulah. The four short-listed firms are Bullock-Tice, DAG, Quina Grundhoefer, and STOA. |
While I am in disagreement with parts of the plan that has been put forth to address over-crowding in Beulah near the Navy Federal Credit Union expansion, and I have made my significant disagreements known both online , directly to district facilities staff, and at recent meetings, there is one facet to construction that we should all universally want and upon which we all should agree---keeping costs as low as possible must be a priority!
We're about to spend as much as $75Million dollars on construction--and we have to get this right!
One way to do this is to re-think the way we build.
Why do we need a brand new design for every new school we build?
What is the purpose?-- because designing every new school we contemplate building adds 6-9% to the overall project's costs.
It is for this reason we should Site-Adapt an existing design for our soon to be built schools.
Take a school we have already paid to design and build, and use the same design and site adapt the exact design for the plot of land upon which such a school will be built, taking into account the physical characteristics of the land--slope, terrain, wetlands, existing underground utilities, road frontages, etc, etc.
It does not even need to be a design we have paid for or built. We can find a school in a 100 or so mile radius that is exceptionally well built, tour the constructed facility, speak to the users, then contact the architect of the one we like best. Next, we hire them to reproduce their design for us, site adapted, for our parcel.
--Doing this allows for a better, time tested facility ( after being built the first time, all kinks will be known, can be ironed-out and addressed/corrected for new location)
--Design costs can easily be reduced by as much as 70%---leaving more money for other facilities
