Randolph Field ISD Preps for New High School Building

UNIVERSAL CITY, Texas — Randolph Field Independent School District in Universal City recently began site development work to prepare for the installation of a new two-story, 47,400-square-foot school facility. The school district partnered with design-build construction firm Ramtech Building Systems of Mansfield, Texas to complete the project using the firm’s Accelerated Building System (ABS) prefabricated construction method.

Randolph Field ISD serves the children of military personnel at Randolph Air Force Base, part of the Joint Base San Antonio System. To facilitate the planned expansion, the school chose to replace the current high school with a new two-story facility adjacent to the existing high school and middle school. Estimated at $7.3 million, the new structure will provide space for 23 classrooms, an eighth grade science center, two computer labs, two student commons and an administrative area with offices, counseling suite and a nurse station. It will also include four high school level labs for physics, biology, chemistry and environmental science all situated around a common central preparation area with chemical storage capability.

The building’s exterior design will feature masonry on the first floor and custom-colored architectural metal siding placed both horizontally and vertically to highlight entrances and complement existing campus structures. High-efficiency, gas-fired rooftop HVAC units will provide heating and cooling on the second floor, with zoned electrical HVAC units for the first floor.

Ramtech began manufacturing the building in mid-November and expects to begin setting the modular sections the first week of February, according to a statement. The project is slated for completion in July 2016, after which the district plans to demolish the existing high school structure.

"Randolph ISD immediately saw the speed, cost and quality benefits of using our Accelerated Building System after they reviewed the two permanent ABS projects that we completed for Blue Ridge ISD,” said Ramtech President Linc Moss in a statement.

Prior to awarding the design-build contract to Ramtech, the school district also worked with Gallagher Construction of Richardson, Texas to develop the district’s master plan and to facilitate the RFP and contract negotiations for the prefabricated building project.

Ramtech also recently completed a $1.5 million project for the Melissa Independent School District in Melissa, Texas. Built using Ramtech’s traditional wood-framed permanent modular construction approach, the 9,018-square-foot, eight-classroom facility is located in the middle school area of the district’s combined campus.