New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is proposing to establish 10 new programs modeled on Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), an IBM-backed school in Brooklyn that takes students through high school and two years of college with the goal of meeting the demand for workers with the right skills for high-tech jobs.

The public-private partnership was announced as part of Cuomo’s 2013-2014 Executive Budget. There are 10 schools in the proposal from each of the 10 economic development regions, which will participate in the new 6-year education model. By the end of the program (if a student meets the academic requirements) they will graduate with an associate’s degree. The proposal includes a $4 million increase for the Early College High School program (ECHS), which will fund the 10 programs, as well as traditional ECHS programs throughout the state.

“Education is key to America’s economic growth and competitiveness. IBM is pleased to be working with New York state, its businesses and its educators to provide students with the deep knowledge, skills and education needed to prepare students for 21st century jobs in areas like analytics and big data,” said Stanley Litow, vice president of corporate citizenship and corporate affairs at IBM, in a statement.

The proposal means bright futures for not only the students, but for companies and the economy as well. An educated and highly skilled workforce has the ability to strengthen the economy.

“One of New York’s greatest resources and economic drivers is our education system, but we must ensure that our schools are adequately equipped to train students for the high-tech jobs of tomorrow,” said Cuomo in a statement. “This partnership with IBM will better enable the state to invest in selected school districts throughout the state and prepare students, starting in high school, for high-skill jobs in fields such as manufacturing, technology, finance and health care.”

Students will not only receive a high-level of education and training, but the partnership with IBM and other companies also gives the program’s graduates a front-of-the-line position for jobs with these companies.

IBM is the only company to-date to be announced as a partner in the program, but additional partners and resources will be announced in the coming months, according to Cuomo’s office.

IBM will be the key partner for two schools, which have not yet been named publically.

The post STEM Schools Look to Grow in New York appeared first on School Construction News.

The 42,000-square-foot facility is slated for completion in 2014 and is part of a $185 million campus-wide capital campaign to expand and modernize the school. Islandia, N.Y.-based Stalco Construction is working as the general contractor on the new School of Business along with New York-based architecture firm, Urbahn Architects.

“The new, three-story, $26.7 million School of Business will be one of the most architecturally prominent higher education structures in the Northeast, said Joseph Serpe, vice president at Stalco Construction. “The building, which aims at LEED Silver certification, will feature a striking, modern, charcoal and ivory-colored façade, expansive glass curtainwall and a high number of environmentally responsible design and engineering solutions. The school’s energy efficiency performance will exceed New York’s state requirements by 30 percent.”

The need for the facility is due to the college’s increasing enrollment — which in 2012 exceeded 8,000 students. The school will help to prepare students for careers in the business industry by providing the latest technologies and services.

The building features a 1,050-square-foot computer lab that students will be able to work on assignments and projects as well as conduct research. While students have the option of working solo in the lab, the interior classroom space gives them the opportunity to work collaboratively.

The classrooms and lounges were designed with collaborative learning in mind. The first floor of the building features the largest classrooms in the building, and in order to promote active discussion and learning, each of these classrooms is tiered on each side around a centrally located teaching stage area. One of the 64-seat classrooms will feature a central folding partition, allowing division into two smaller, traditionally laid out classrooms.

The flexibility of the classrooms gives students and teachers endless learning possibilities, strategies and approaches.

“From the beginning of the project, it was the goal of Farmingdale State College for the building to promote a casual interaction between students and faculty,” said Peter Verne, senior associate at Urbahn Architects and project’s lead designer. “We reflected this concept in our design approach by locating the faculty offices immediately across the main corridors from the classrooms.”

The interior of the building also features mini-lounges for students, which further promotes interactivity. In addition to the public spaces, there are also two main lounges for students who prefer to work in a quiet working environment.

Green Elements

The building has many environmentally friendly features, including the mechanical, electrical and plumbing services.

“The building will incorporate high efficiency heating, cooling and lighting systems that will significantly reduce energy use,” said Gregory Sibley, associate principal for Vanderweill Engineers. “The entire building will be managed by the Direct Digital Control (DDC)-controlled Building Energy Management System, which will optimize the energy use based on occupancy, air quality, natural lighting levels and other variable factors. The college’s facility management team will be able to control the building’s systems remotely, from the campuses’ central control room.”

The cooling system at the facility will include two high efficiency, water cooled, 135-ton chillers in the basement as well as cooling towers, tied to the basement chillers, on the grade level outside of the main building. The chilled water will be distributed through piping networks to custom manufactured air handling units with multiple fans for an increased redundancy and reliability. The units will also feature internal service corridors for easier maintenance.

“In order to develop the optimal structure, the architectural and engineering team performed multiple modeling tests for the entire building’s design, including walls, ceilings, roofs and MEP systems,” said Sibley. “This analysis has led to the development of an extremely efficient structure that will serve as an example for future higher education facilities across the nation.”

The greening of the new building will also serve as an example for other campus projects — along with incorporating collaborative learning spaces within other new facilities.

The post SUNY Building Open for Business in 2014 appeared first on School Construction News.

Created in 1881, Yonkers Public Schools is the fourth largest district in the state of New York. The most recent demographic study showed that the school district is now almost 4,000 seats short and by 2017 it will be 7,000 seats short.

About three years ago, the district looked at ways to solve its ongoing construction capital problem. With 38 schools with an average age of 73 years, six schools more than 90 years old and one school more than 120 years old, the buildings are rundown. Capital projects have been under-funded the last few decades and much maintenance has been deferred.

Yonkers conducted a building condition survey in 2005 that disclosed the district needed close to $300 million in repairs; after investing $80 million into the schools, a 2010 survey showed the number was closer to $400 million.

“We just were not able to catch up on the repairs that were needed in the district and we needed to find a better way,” said Bernard Pierorazio, superintendent of Yonkers Public Schools. “We looked at a strategy that would not only bring us new buildings, but refurbish our older buildings and provide the very best education facilities for our children.”

The P3 ideal — public-private partnership — uses a design-build-finance-maintain model that offers availability payments to provide motivation for the private partner to make renovations and necessary updates.

“We’ve got a $1 billion problem to deal with; and we had to bite the bullet and find a way to move forward with it,” said Joe Bracchitta, chief administrative officer. “We had to think outside of the box, and that’s what brought us to the idea of public/private partnerships.”

The traditional model that the school district had been using was taking too long and costing too much. As the district considered its options, it became aware of public-private partnerships in school districts.

The first step was to create a request for proposal (RFP) to secure advisors with global experience — Macquarie Capital (finance), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (legal), and URS Corporation (technical). These advisors will provide guidelines regarding how the project should be phased and what the availability payment will be.

Once the feasibility report is complete, Yonkers will put out a request for quotation (RFQ) to obtain companies’ specs, which will allow for a short-list RFP. The private-sector partners will be selected based on the RFP.

If the project were facilitated as public only, the district would sell bonds to the public and manage the contractors, construction, and maintenance.

“One thing we found out is we are very good at educating children, and we’re very good at determining what our buildings should do and what they should look like,” said Bracchitta. “But we are not efficient at all in terms of the construction and the on-going maintenance of these buildings. We are not designed to be building caretakers; we are designed to be educators and leaders in education.”

This creates a high amount of risk for the district, since it is not well versed in managing aspects such as construction or maintenance or contractors. The private-sector partners work with all of those aspects every day, and do so efficiently, says Bracchitta. Therefore, the public/private partnership shifts the risks to the private sector and allows the district to retain control and ownership of the buildings. The district stays in control of instructional programs and through the availability payment, it ensures the private sector properly maintains the buildings and provides the output needed.

“If it [P3] works, it’s a perfect marriage. It allows us to maintain the risks on the items we’re good at and give the risks to the private sector, for a price, that they are good at maintaining,” said Bracchitta.

The initial plan contemplated three phases over 15 years, but additional phases may occur in order for the district to more easily digest the costs.

The Yonkers project was ranked in the second edition of Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition, showcasing the World’s 100 Most Innovative Urban Infrastructure Programs, announced by KPMG, an audit, tax and advisory firm, at the World Cities Summit in Singapore. Judges select projects based on their scale, feasibility, complexity, innovation and impact on society. Yonkers is one of ten projects selected from across the globe for the education category and is the only one based in the United States.

“We were ecstatic that the group at KPMG considered the Yonkers project. It was completely a surprise,” said Pierorazio. “It was mid-June when we were notified; we were actually notified a bit late because of an errant email address. So we got a call from KPMG, discussing this and we were just so overwhelmed. We were extremely excited about it.”

The recognition from the KPMG list will only help the Yonkers project, explained Pierorazio.

“It pushes the project not only into the local limelight, but the national and international. It will open more doors for us in terms of possibility for us moving forward,” said Pierorazio.

The post Public-Private Partnership Comes to Yonkers appeared first on School Construction News.

Created in 1881, Yonkers Public Schools is the fourth largest district in the state of New York. The most recent demographic study showed that the school district is now almost 4,000 seats short and by 2017 it will be 7,000 seats short.

About three years ago, the district looked at ways to solve its ongoing construction capital problem. With 38 schools with an average age of 73 years, six schools more than 90 years old and one school more than 120 years old, the buildings are rundown. Capital projects have been under-funded the last few decades and much maintenance has been deferred.

Yonkers conducted a building condition survey in 2005 that disclosed the district needed close to $300 million in repairs; after investing $80 million into the schools, a 2010 survey showed the number was closer to $400 million.

“We just were not able to catch up on the repairs that were needed in the district and we needed to find a better way,” said Bernard Pierorazio, superintendent of Yonkers Public Schools. “We looked at a strategy that would not only bring us new buildings, but refurbish our older buildings and provide the very best education facilities for our children.”

The P3 ideal — public-private partnership — uses a design-build-finance-maintain model that offers availability payments to provide motivation for the private partner to make renovations and necessary updates.

“We’ve got a $1 billion problem to deal with; and we had to bite the bullet and find a way to move forward with it,” said Joe Bracchitta, chief administrative officer. “We had to think outside of the box, and that’s what brought us to the idea of public/private partnerships.”

The traditional model that the school district had been using was taking too long and costing too much. As the district considered its options, it became aware of public/private partnerships in school districts.

The first step was to create a request for proposal (RFP) to secure advisors with global experience — Macquarie Capital (finance), Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP (legal), and URS Corporation (technical). These advisors will provide guidelines regarding how the project should be phased and what the availability payment will be.

Once the feasibility report is complete, Yonkers will put out a request for quotation (RFQ) to obtain companies’ specs, which will allow for a short-list RFP. The private-sector partners will be selected based on the RFP.

If the project were facilitated as public only, the district would sell bonds to the public and manage the contractors, construction, and maintenance.

“One thing we found out is we are very good at educating children, and we’re very good at determining what our buildings should do and what they should look like,” said Bracchitta. “But we are not efficient at all in terms of the construction and the on-going maintenance of these buildings. We are not designed to be building caretakers; we are designed to be educators and leaders in education.”

This creates a high amount of risk for the district, since it is not well versed in managing aspects such as construction or maintenance or contractors. The private-sector partners work with all of those aspects every day, and do so efficiently, says Bracchitta. Therefore, the public/private partnership shifts the risks to the private sector and allows the district to retain control and ownership of the buildings. The district stays in control of instructional programs and through the availability payment, it ensures the private sector properly maintains the buildings and provides the output needed.

“If it [P3] works, it’s a perfect marriage. It allows us to maintain the risks on the items we’re good at and give the risks to the private sector, for a price, that they are good at maintaining,” said Bracchitta.

The initial plan contemplated three phases over 15 years, but additional phases may occur in order for the district to more easily digest the costs.

The Yonkers project was ranked in the second edition of Infrastructure 100: World Cities Edition, showcasing the World’s 100 Most Innovative Urban Infrastructure Programs, announced by KPMG, an audit, tax and advisory firm, at the World Cities Summit in Singapore. Judges select projects based on their scale, feasibility, complexity, innovation and impact on society. Yonkers is one of ten projects selected from across the globe for the education category and is the only one based in the United States.

“We were ecstatic that the group at KPMG considered the Yonkers project. It was completely a surprise,” said Pierorazio. “It was mid-June when we were notified; we were actually notified a bit late because of an errant email address. So we got a call from KPMG, discussing this and we were just so overwhelmed. We were extremely excited about it.”

The recognition from the KPMG list will only help the Yonkers project, explained Pierorazio.

“It pushes the project not only into the local limelight, but the national and international. It will open more doors for us in terms of possibility for us moving forward,” said Pierorazio.

The post Public-Private Partnership Comes to Yonkers appeared first on School Construction News.

“The approval of the bond issue is a very positive sign of the local communities willingness to invest in educational infrastructure, both on Long Island and nationwide,” said Roger Smith, BBS principal and lead architect in a statement. “In our experience, despite the struggling economy, voters will support and accept the cost of maintaining and improving school facilities as long as districts and architects engage in responsive, honest and respectful communication with the communities.”

BBS Architects and the district worked together with the community stakeholders to revise a previously submitted $122 million proposal that failed in February 2010. The district created a 40-person Community Partnership for Revitalization team to prioritize the facility and educational needs and to determine financial obligations. The CPR is made up of parents, community leaders, voters and district personnel.

With the Riverhead area focusing on a residential community, in conjunction with a housing boom during the early to mid 2000-decade, brought an increase of families with children into the community. Because of the increase, Riverhead Central School District decided to develop an expansion and renovation program to fit the needs of the 7,600 students.

The program is divided into three areas: spatial needs, facility needs and site work.

Spatial needs encompass the necessary additional classrooms and administrative offices. Site work encompasses sports fields, pick-up and drop-off loops, playgrounds, parking areas and driveways. Facility needs include required maintenance and capital improvements to existing infrastructure and facilities.

In order to minimize interruptions, the program is broken down to three phases, with multiple steps in each phase.

Phase I will involve three of the four elementary schools, Aquebogue Elementary, Philips Avenue Elementary and Riley Avenue Elementary School. Phase II is the largest and consists of a $32 million renovation and expansion of Riverhead High School, which is set to start in 2013. Phase III includes main campus improvements and renovations to the remaining schools: Riverhead Middle School, Pulaski Street School and Roanoke Avenue Elementary.

“Although the schools will not undergo LEED certification, we have incorporated a high number of green features into both new buildings and existing structures to be renovated,” said BBS project designer Kevin J. Walsh in a statement. “These include green and insulated roofs, high efficiency lighting and HVAC systems, water saving fixtures, high-performance window glazing, and tight building envelopes.”

All of the work is expected to conclude in 2015.

The post School District Proceeds with $78 Million Construction Program appeared first on School Construction News.

Located at the center of the region’s emerging biosciences corridor, this new, transit-oriented medical school development will anchor a lively, urban mixed-use district on campus and bring 1,200 students, faculty and staff downtown.

With the goal of fostering collaboration and interdisciplinary care, the new academic medical center is intended to allow students, faculty, biomedical researchers and clinicians to move easily from classroom to bedside to lab.

“Building a new medical school is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our university and region, and a critical step in evolving the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus into an academic health center on par with those of Pittsburgh and Cleveland,” said Michael Cain, vice president for health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

Kenneth Drucker, design principal for the project and design director for HOK Architects’ New York office, said his team approached the medical school project after analyzing the scale and texture of the city and the history, quality and craft of Buffalo architecture.

The university “has world-class aspirations for the architecture, design and planning of the medical school and site,” he said. “The project presents an exciting opportunity to transform the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus and make a bold statement for architecture and urban design in Buffalo. We are pleased to have been selected for such a meaningful project, which will prepare students for medical and research careers in an inspiring research-focused academic medical center.”

HOK Architects beat out Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Cannon Design, Rafael Vinoly Architects with Foit-Albert Associates, and Grimshaw and Davis Brody Bond.

The selection committee cited the company’s experience designing some of the world’s highest profile and most innovative health sciences facilities.

HOK Architects designed the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia and recently won an international competition to design the Fondazione Ri.MED Biomedical Research and Biotechnology Center in Palermo, Sicily. The firm also served as lead designer for the University of Chicago’s William Eckhardt Research Center and the Francis Crick Institute’s cardiovascular and cancer research center in central London, which will be Europe’s largest center for biomedical research and innovation.

Other medical centers it has designed are in Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio, Florida State University, the University of Alberta, Washington University in St. Louis, Mo., the University of Central Florida in Orlando, Fla., the Commonwealth Medical College in Scranton, Pa., as well as Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago and Los Angeles County and USC Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Bill Odell, HOK Architects’ director of science and technology, led many of those projects.

“The University at Buffalo has a tremendous opportunity to build state-of-the-art new facilities while redefining 21st-century medical education and translational research,” he said. “Most other academic medical centers in the world would love to have the opportunity that UB has on this site.”

The proposed $375 million medical school, funded in part by NYSUNY 2020 legislation, is a key component of the university’s 2020 plan for academic excellence, which is intended to benefit students, faculty, staff and the Western New York community.

“This new medical center will become a catalyst for further development in downtown Buffalo and Western New York, and support the convergence of technology and research that will transform the practice of medicine,” said Jim Berge, principal-in-charge for the project and HOK Architects’ director of science and technology in New York.

To meet the university’s sustainability and climate-impact reduction goals, HOK will design a sustainable building intended for LEED Gold certification. Groundbreaking for the medical school is scheduled for fall 2013 and construction is expected to be complete in 2016.

The post HOK Selected for $375 Million Project at University of Buffalo appeared first on School Construction News.

The carport overhang ceiling fell to the ground on Good Friday, while construction crews were trying to locate pipes in the ceiling. No one was hurt when the building collapsed, largely because students were on vacation.

The core building was not damaged, but the entire suspended stucco ceiling was removed due to safety concerns.

“The engineers raised concerns about the stability of some of the ceiling that did not come down initially on its own, so on their advice and the advice of architects, we took the remaining ceiling down in a controlled removal,” Superintendent David Weiss said in a letter.

Although the cause of the collapse was not yet known, district spokesperson Terry Gilbert said its old age could be responsible.

“The decision to remove the remainder of the suspended ceiling is an important safety decision that completely removes the possibility of any further issues, since the structures will be gone,” Weiss said. “We will not tolerate any uncertainty with regard to the safety of our students, staff, or anyone who uses the facilities. Safety has to be our first priority.”

The insurance company is still evaluating the cost of damage, Gilbert said.

The collapsed ceiling will not halt the construction and renovation work under way throughout the district, district officials said.

The district is undergoing $100 million worth of bonded construction projects, including $28.7 million worth of renovations at Long Beach High School that includes substantial interior construction, health and safety improvements, and infrastructure upgrades and improved community resources.

The post Ceiling Collapses in Lido Beach During School Renovation appeared first on School Construction News.

The five-story, 135,000-square-foot facility is designed to accommodate 1,300 K-12 students and will offer a range of student and adult services. 

 

The post NY School and Community Center Builder selected appeared first on School Construction News.

The post SUNY Breaks Ground on New Performance Building appeared first on School Construction News.