For the second time, the Gilbane Co. of Houston is building two high school complexes for the same district at the same time.

In 2000, Gilbane constructed two high school campuses simultaneously for the Houston ISD. In March 2002 it moved its crews west of town to begin construction of the $52 million Katy High School No. 5, and then in March 2003 Gilbane began work on the $58 million Katy High School No. 6.

No. 5 is scheduled to be completed in June, while No. 6 should be finished in June 2005.

advertisement

Using a modified repeat design, the two Katy schools are comparable in structural design and layout, although No. 6 includes a ninth-grade addition. Both feature distinctly different exterior elevations and front-entry facades.

Building both schools at the same time-one a year ahead of the other-offers many advantages to the contractor and the subcontractors, said Brent Ivey, project executive for Gilbane. The majority of the project teams are the same for both schools, with the exception of plumbing and mechanical contractors.

"The fortunate thing is the perfect lag time," Ivey added. "The trade contractors who are on both jobs are able to flow off of one project to the other, and the specialty subcontractors didn't have to overcome a learning curve when they moved on to the second project. And for those not familiar with either project, we literally have a full-size mock-up, just down the road. We can bring them over to No. 5 and show them what needs to be done."

The two high schools were not a package job for Gilbane. Each project is under a separate contract, funded by different Katy ISD bond packages. As it happened, Gilbane had begun work on No. 5 before bidding on No. 6. The company was awarded the contract for No. 6 about a year later.

"When we started No. 5, they hadn't even passed the bond for No. 6," Ivey said. The upshot was that when the bond package was passed, plans for the sixth high school could be expedited because the design was in place and the land already owned by the district. Ivey said Gilbane "did have an edge" when the bid was let.

PBK Architects of Houston designed the two schools, which feature a rotunda entrance with wings and corridors that radiate outward.

"Programmatically, the two buildings are very similar and most of the concepts for No. 6 were based on No. 5," said Eric Smith, senior project manager for PBK Architects.
"It's a modified repeat with some fairly significant differences, especially the exterior.
We completely redesigned the front entrance of No. 6. The idea was that we wanted each school to have its own personality and look."

The delivery methods for both high schools are different. With No. 5, a construction-manager-at-risk delivery method was used, while No. 6 used a competitive-sealed proposal.

"The first school selection allowed us to participate in the design phase and develop estimates at various phases," Ivey said. "No. 6 was more of a hard bid, and we were successful in that fashion as well."

While the jobs have not been concurrent enough to realize savings on materials by ordering them all at the same time, Ivey said Gilbane has realized economies in many other areas.

"There was an advantage to being able to keep our team together," he said. "It has been a benefit to have almost the same staff covering both projects," he added. "This supervision economy is trickling down to the subcontractors who have superintendents and field personnel who can go from one job to the other."

While No. 5 is on an approximately 75-acre site, No. 6 is on a 128-acre site. Each main building includes about 500,000 sq. ft. covering two floors. The buildings features typical steel construction and masonry cladding on a drilled pier foundation with grade beams and slab-on-grade. Interior spaces are separated with either CMU walls or drywall partitions.

Each facility includes a large gymnasium, natatorium and performing arts auditorium as well as complete athletic facilities including football, baseball, soccer and other sports.

The main difference between the two buildings is the exterior facades and the addition of a ninth-grade building for No. 6.

No. 5 was designed for the possibility of a ninth-grade addition. (Katy ISD's four other high school campuses have ninth-grade buildings.)

The entry to No. 5 features a tower, while No. 6 has a façade entry closer to the building.

"The reason for the distinct differences is to give students a feeling of their school's unique identity," Ivey said. "These are the second and third schools to feature this design. Katy's Cinco Ranch High School also has this design."

That design features a main mall and a two-story rotunda with an impressive 32-segment skylight. Skylights are used throughout the buildings to bring in natural light.

Smith, PBK's senior project manager, said the goal with the design of each Katy school is to meet unique educational needs in the most economically feasible way.

"These schools were tailored to meet the needs of the students in this district," he added. "Each school will have specialized programs. The performing arts centers are quite impressive. They can operate really big theater programs."

While both buildings will feature the bells and whistles of a state-of-the-art high school, Smith said that the Katy ISD is concerned about not winding up with anything too grandiose.

"This is a district that tends to be frugal in its school-building efforts," he added.
"Several years ago they developed a long-range facility plan and have stuck with it.
They have a professional demographer who has been very good at forecasting their needs."