Williams Company Begins Major Renovation of Florida High School

By Roxanne Squires

ORLANDO, Fla. — Locally based Williams Company Building Division began the Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools’ $28.5 million renovation to Boone High School in Orlando.

Williams Company Building Division is serving as general contractor for the $28.5 million Boone High School Capital Renewal and renovation project now underway.

The Capital Renewal portion of the project will lengthen the life of the school buildings, and the replacement of the auditorium will update that component of the Boone campus similar to auditoriums recently constructed on other Orange County (Fla.) Public Schools’ High School campuses. Bob Lipscomb, CEO of Williams Company, explained that the one challenge working on the Boone project(s) thus far has been the limited access due to the size of the property, and the close proximity to adjacent occupied buildings and houses.

The Capital Renewal project at Boone includes the demolition of the standing auditorium, which will be replaced by a new $11.5 million auditorium, as well as a refurbishment and expansion of the existing cafeteria, and replacing building components that are beyond their useful life in different school buildings. These replacements include new roofing and HVAC systems as well as a newly installed campus-wide fire alarm system.

The project will operate under six separate phases, with Phase I including constructing a new stormwater exfiltration system and Phase II involving the demolition and replacement of the new auditorium building as well as a track and baseball field renovation. Phase III consists of the construction of new gymnasium and Business/Law Magnet building, with Phase IV continuing construction on the auditorium and gym along with capital renewal work beginning on two buildings. Phase V and VI will be the beginning and end of construction on the new cafeteria.

“One unique aspect about the work we are doing at Boone High School is that we are actually orchestrating several smaller projects while operating and managing them as one large project,” said Lipscomb. “When we leave the Boone campus, we will have completed the Capital Renewal work, the auditorium replacement, gymnasium replacement, emergency generator and cafeteria renovation projects.”

The project broke ground in 2018 and is expected for completion in 2020.