BOSTON – Calling it a “building of hope,” city leaders in Quincy, MA celebrated the completion of its newest school, the South-West Middle School, a $58 million 96,000 square-foot facility that will usher in the next generation of learning.
BOND, a Northeast building, civil, utility and energy construction firm, built the new school on time and on budget and celebrated the milestone alongside community members, students and school officials.
During the course of the two-year project, BOND developed phasing and logistic plans, constructability analyses, proposed value engineering alternatives to maintain the project budget, and then constructed the new building just a few feet away from the Sterling Middle School, the occupied building being replaced.
“We’re extremely proud of this important milestone at South-West Middle School,” said Frank Hayes, COO and President of BOND’s Building Division. “The complexity of this type of building working alongside a fully-occupied school allowed us to think strategically at every step of the project.”
South-West Middle School features collaborative learning spaces, a media center, gymnasium, music and art rooms, administrative offices, a café and an auditorium. The state-of-the-art learning facility is complete with STEM circulation zones that encourage project-based learning, an open floor plan and glass walls to create a synergetic environment.
New safety enhancements were built into the facility including glass walls electrified with a film that turns the glass opaque with the flip of a switch – making it impossible to see who is inside the classroom – an added safety measure in the event of a lockdown.
“Building off the growing trend of innovative and modernized schools, the light-filled spaces and technology-rich classrooms allow this new building to facilitate a high-quality of student engagement for the next generation of learning,” said Robert Murray, BOND President.
BOND makes it a practice of involving the local community with its projects – especially when it involves disrupting daily activities. With the new school being built directly behind the old school, BOND turned the opportunity into a teaching moment and facilitated classroom learning sessions with South-West Middle School students to coincide with project milestones and STEM curriculum. Students who were interested in the construction even established their own Junior Building Committee. The Committee met with BOND employees periodically, went on hardhat tours of the site, wrote reports and shared updates with their classmates, as well as on the school’s website throughout the building process.
“We love to build these facilities, because we really see what happens in them,” said Ken Johnson, VP Education, BOND. “The speed, the new way that teachers are going to be able to teach, the opportunities for them to create, I think is tremendous. It gives us a great deal of satisfaction to be able to contribute to that, and to know that we’ve helped make a difference in these students’ lives and in the community.”
