The design team for the architect of the new Miami Trace High School project has been busy during the month of February.
The school district’s business manager, Bill Franke, provided an update to the Miami Trace Board of Education during a recent meeting. Based on the latest round of high school staff input meetings held on Jan. 29, SHP Leading Design has been very busy developing a final floor plan for the building.
The goal is to finish this stage of the process by March 1. “The phase is called Schematic Design and is just the first of three stages that the firm will use as they design the building,” said Franke. “Each of these phases takes approximately 18 weeks to complete. Once schematic design is completed, they will hand it off to our construction manager for review. The review process includes cost estimating and constructability reviews. The floor plan will also be reviewed and approved by our partners at OFCC. If the team finds that the initial design may be too costly, they will recommend revisions that may help bring the building back into budget.”
A 3.9-mill, 37-year bond issue passed at the special election last May, setting in motion the building design phase for a new high school, which will be located on a nearly 60-acre piece of farmland to the east of the football stadium. The new high school will replace the existing high school that opened in 1962.
Franke said Monday that the design team has also been working to develop a final site plan layout for the campus. This plan includes the parking lots, driveways, athletic fields, and site drainage design.
“Civil engineers were on the site during the month to conduct soil borings on the site,” he said. “They selected 17 locations on the site where they drilled down 25 feet to obtain samples of the soil conditions where the building, parking lots and athletic fields will be located. This information is very important and will allow the design team to make sure that the site is properly prepared for our new school. Proper site preparation will help us avoid issues with building settling, pavement failures and site drainage.”
The firm found that the soil types for the new high school site were similar to those found during earlier school projects, which will require some treatment and stabilization in order to avoid issues later.
On Feb. 16, the district selected a “Commissioning Agent” for the project, Franke said. This team of third-party engineers will assist the project by reviewing the design and specifications of specific components for the building, such as heating and cooling, plumbing and electrical (sometimes referred to as MEP).
“The commissioning firm that we will be using on the project is Cincinnati-based Motz Engineering,” said Franke. “Motz Engineering has a long list of Ohio school district clients, as well as Xavier University. They came highly recommended to the project. Once the building is under construction, Motz will also assist the team by conducting functional system testing and system operational balancing. They will remain engaged in the project during the opening of the building and the initial warranty period to work through the final details of these critical systems.”
The goal is for the new high school to be open to students in January 2019.
