Arlington Public Schools, Alice West Fleet Elementary School

Arlington Public Schools wanted the new Alice West Fleet Elementary School to be designed with the goal of encouraging interaction and engaging educational experiences while incorporating sustainable features and products.

Challenge

The vision was a “net-zero” facility utilizing geothermal wells and solar photovoltaic panels – with the goal that this school would produce as much or more energy from renewable sources than the school used. This four-story, structural steel frame building of approximately 110,000 square feet would house a total capacity of 750 students. It included a two-story, fully underground parking structure located within the footprint of the school building as well as classrooms, music rooms, art rooms, a full-sized gymnasium, cafeteria, media center,and support spaces.

Solution

MBP was contracted to provide full-time, on-site Construction Manager Advisor services in order to achieve the owner’s goals for budget, schedule, and quality, while partnering with the architect and contractor to deliver a successful project. Because the owner had little experience in managing the construction contingency allowance included in the GMP, MBP thoroughly reviewed bid summaries to verify accurate pricing and completeness of scope in development of the final GMP. MBP developed tracking logs and approval protocols to assure that contingency requests were reviewed promptly and that funds withdrawn were fair and equitable. MBP also developed and maintained detailed cost impact and change management logs so that the owner was aware at any time of potential exposure. Potential change orders were reviewed promptly for merit and reasonable cost impacts, and changes were negotiated expediently and issued for execution to avoid contractor dissatisfaction with slow payments for additional work.

In addition, MBP administered and maintained the Arlington Public Schools proprietary management information system. During the project, Arlington Public Schools transitioned to a new software platform and the Alice West Fleet Elementary School project became the department’s beta test case primarily due to the level of detail maintained by MBP in the prior program.

As part of MBP’s full-time quality assurance and time and cost management services, we chaired and recorded progress meetings and worked closely with the architect and contractor to resolve issues, and managed potential cost and time impacts, reviewed payment applications, contractor price proposals, negotiated final settlements, and compiled changes in the owner’s software for execution.

Results

Alice West Fleet Elementary School was completed on time for the 2019-20 school year and is the second of three net-zero schools for Arlington Public Schools. MBP worked with the contractor to develop recovery schedules to minimize lost time due to unforeseen excessive ground water that slowed progress on the foundation work. Throughout construction, MBP reviewed monthly schedule updates to ensure progress was reported accurately. One result was saving $43,000 by denying dewatering costs, which should have been anticipated in the base bid per the geotechnical report.

“[MBP was] a pleasure to work with, added value to the project, and were instrumental in bringing project delivery in on time for the start of the Fall 2019 school year. Arlington Public Schools is very pleased with the final product and with MBP’s role in the success of the project.”
Steve Stricker
Senior Project Manager
Arlington Public Schools