Client Success Stories

Pinellas County Schools - Oak Grove Middle School

The Challenge:

Major challenges were in store for Peter R. Brown Construction, Inc. as they began construction on this new state-of-the-art middle school. The first challenge had to do with the fact that the new school was going to be built in the same location as the existing school. The school district required that a day of school could not be missed while construction was ongoing. To make it even more difficult, Peter R. Brown Construction, Inc. only had 2.5 months to create the temporary school before classes started. In addition to this, the project site was packed with beautiful oak trees that needed to be preserved during construction, thus creating limited site storage and lay down areas for construction activities. The last challenge, which was unknown when construction began, was the fact that 4 major hurricanes were going to hit the Tampa Bay Area during the construction of this project.

The Solution:

For the first obstacle, our efforts included the mobilization of over 55 modular classrooms along with the renovation of the existing administrative facility into kitchen/dining space and administrative areas. The temporary classroom site “Druid Hills” had to be set up with power for the modular classrooms (each classroom was provided with its own electrical service drop), domestic water service, sanitary sewer service, data, public address/intercom, and fire alarms for each of the classrooms. Access requirements for the temporary classrooms necessitated the installation of two sets of ramps which established egress for the students and staff from the classrooms. Asphalt driveways were installed to allow for busses to pick up/drop off students in the classroom areas. Concrete sidewalks were installed to provide access to each of the classrooms, to and from the bus loop and the cafeteria/kitchen area. A drainage system was established to direct the rainwater from the campus as the new pavement areas interrupted the natural drainage of the field. In order to accommodate the construction schedule for the new school, all temporary school facilities had to be completed by January 2004 to allow for the students and staff to occupy after their winter break.

For the second obstacle, efforts during construction included expanded barricades to protect the drip line, alternate site access routes and closely monitored material lay down areas in order to keep the drip lines free and the trees out of danger. During construction, the trees were examined by an arborist and underwent pruning of their root and branch systems so that adjacent construction would not cause damage. The success of this program is evident today as all the trees remain intact and vibrant, thus maintaining the school’s namesake for years to come.

Finally, Peter Brown Construction and their subcontractors working extra hours and weekends were ultimately able to overcome the three week delay and open Oak Grove Middle School on time for the students to take their seats in August 2005.

The Results:

The results of our efforts include 170,000 sf of high-tech teaching space which is highlighted by a communication system that includes video projectors in each classroom linked to the media center. The media center provides access and control to cable T.V., DVD’s and VHS recordings, capable of linking up to 17 classrooms on different forms of media at one time. Other high tech components include an infrared security system with over seventy cameras located on the building’s interior and exterior. A “teacher pleasing” feature is the state-of-the-art HVAC controls/energy management system, which allows for temperature control of each individual classroom. Major enhancements from the existing building included the addition of windows in the classrooms (While hard to believe, the original school did not have windows in the classrooms!) The building itself offers two floors of classrooms linked to an atrium area originally considered as open air, but later enclosed to create a “mall” effect. Today, Oak Grove continues to perform as one of Pinellas County School’s most advanced middle schools and has an enhanced role as a community member and an attractive landmark.