Fields Road Elementary School located in Gaithersburg, Maryland, was designed by Proffitt & Associates out of Frederick, Maryland. The project consisted of a 25,162 square foot wrap-around wing addition, miscellaneous site improvements and interior renovations of an existing 46,623 square foot area school facility that was originally constructed by Henley Construction Co., Inc. for Montgomery County Public Schools in the early 1970’s.
Construction of the wing addition required extensive cut and fill operations around the existing occupied school building. The exterior of the building was composed of a structural steel frame with CMU/ face brick masonry exterior to form the building’s shell, with conventional CMU interior walls and ACT ceilings. A complete new chiller plant was also installed to service the new wing addition, along with a new Energy Recovery Unit (ERU) that feeds individual heat pump units for each classroom space. We then gutted and rebuilt an existing four classroom wing in its entirety. To complete interior renovations, we installed new fire alarms, a wet pipe sprinkler, HVAC mains and acoustical ceiling systems throughout the complete existing occupied portions of the building.
Multiple site improvements including the construction of an appurtenant underground storage structure, a large staff/visitors parking lot, concrete sidewalks and curb/gutters were also included. We finished the additions with new playgrounds and modular play equipment at the rear of the site.
MCPS originally cast the project on an 18 month time frame with the majority of work spanning over 2 summer breaks. However, we were able to shorten the overall job duration a full 6 months by working with all trades and suppliers to attack all of the critical interior renovation work the first summer break. Formal use and occupancy of the facility was obtained from the City of Gaithersburg 12 months later.
