BBS Architects proceeds with $78.334 million Riverhead Central School District project; Israel Seinuk and the Office of Thomas Riley, PE are engineers

Following voter approval of the $78.334 million bond issue to finance expansions, renovations and infrastructure improvements at the Riverhead Central School District on New York State's Long Island, BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers is proceeding with the phased construction program at eight sites. The program encompasses the district's seven schools and the main campus. BBS serves the district as architect, interior designer, construction administrator, and civil and MEP (mechanical, electrical and plumbing) engineer. Construction work will begin in the second half of 2012 and continue through 2015. The school district and BBS worked hand-in-hand with the Riverhead community stakeholders to revise a previously submitted $122-million proposal, which failed the bond vote in February of 2010. Understanding the ultimate commitment of the community to maintain, improve and expand its existing educational facilities, the team engaged in comprehensive consultations with local voters. The district created a 40-person Community Partnership for Revitalization (CPR) Team-a committee of parents, voters, community leaders, and district personnel to prioritize the educational and facility needs and determine the related short and long term financial obligations. With the community's input, BBS revised the capital improvements programming and re-submitted a $78.334-million proposal, which passed the bond issue vote. Riverhead School District superintendent Nancy Carney attributed the bond's approval to the close collaboration of the CPR committee and the architectural team. "BBS Architects' creativity, expertise in school design, and sensitivity to the concerns of community members have allowed us to develop a capital improvement plan acceptable to the majority of voters. BBS competently addressed and arbitrated both the educational needs of the district and financial concerns of Riverhead residents. In addition, BBS personnel generously volunteered their time and resources to educating the voters about the goals of the capital plan, which immensely helped in mobilizing the community's support for the program." "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 BBS principal and lead architect Roger Smith, AIA, LEED AP. "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. The work of the Riverhead district and the CPR Team is an excellent example of the successful approach that can be replicated by districts across the nation that face capital plan vote campaigns." In addition to BBS, the project team includes Israel Seinuk as structural engineer for the high school, middle school and Roanoke Elementary projects and the Office of Thomas Riley, PE, as structural engineer for the Aquebogue Elementary, Philips Elementary, Riley Elementary and main campus projects. The background For nearly two decades, the land usage of the Riverhead area has been shifting from primarily agricultural to a mainly residential one. This shift, accompanied by the housing boom of the early and mid 2000's, had resulted in an unforeseen acceleration of young families and their children moving into the area. Since that time, the Riverhead Central School District has been not only facing overcrowding issues, but also a simultaneously aging infrastructure with many of the schools' facilities having been erected in the 1920's or 30's. One of the primary goals of the district's community was to eliminate the temporary portable classrooms, which had begun to populate the campuses as a short-term solution to the rapidly increasing student enrollment. The current district-wide enrollment is approximately 7,600 students. The Riverhead Central School District decided to address this accelerated matriculation by developing an expansion and renovation program for all seven of its school complexes as well as the main campus site. The district retained BBS Architects & Engineers to review the needs and develop a program to address them. BBS performed a review of the existing facilities, analyzed the demographic data and trends, assessed the cost of various alternatives, and gathered the input from the district's personnel and the local community. Based on this research, BBS developed the capital program that's divided into three distinctive areas: 1. Spatial needs, which encompass the necessary additional classrooms, administrative offices and other facilities. 2. Facility needs, which include the required maintenance and capital improvements to existing facilities and infrastructure. 3. Site work, which encompasses sports fields, playgrounds, pick-up and drop-off loops, driveways, and parking areas. Program and design The program encompasses the district's four elementary, two middle and one high school as well as the main campus site. To minimize interruptions to the district's educational operations and allow the schools to continue their regular instructional activities, the program has been divided into three main phases and multiple steps within each phase. The first phase of the overall program encompasses three elementary schools: Aquebogue, Philips Avenue and Riley Avenue. Construction activities at these schools will begin in the first half of 2012. The second, largest phase is the $32.1-million expansion and renovation of the Riverhead High School, which will begin in 2013. The third phase includes the main campus improvements and renovations to the Riverhead Middle School, Pulaski Street School for grades sixth and seven, and the Roanoke Avenue Elementary. "To address the large scope and multi-site nature of the project, BBS has created individual building teams responsible for the architectural and engineering design at individual sites," explained BBS Senior Associate Lawrence Salvesen, AIA, LEED AP. "These teams operate within the larger BBS organization that provides them with in-house support encompassing architecture, interior design, sustainability engineering, educational programming, landscape architecture, and civil, mechanical, plumbing and electrical engineering. The individual teams provide the client with one point of responsibility for each project and together comprise the overall group dedicated to the entire Riverhead program." "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, A.I.A., LEED AP. "These include green and insulated roofs, high efficiency lighting and HVAC systems, water saving fixtures, high performance window glazing, and tight building envelopes." The first construction projects of the program will begin in late 2012 at the Phillips Elementary School, Aquebogue Elementary and Riley Avenue Elementary. All work is expected to conclude in 2015. At $32.1 million, the largest part of the program is the expansion and renovation of the Riverhead High School. The high school budget encompasses 22.2 million in spatial needs work, 8.7 million in facility improvements and $1.2 million in site upgrades. The school will receive a $12-million, 30,000-square-foot, two-story addition, which will house a new main entry, four 1,400-square-foot Advanced Science classrooms, four 825-square-foot science classrooms, and main, guidance and administrative offices. The majority of the offices currently located in the existing building will be moved to the addition, opening up space in the original building for more educational programming. In the existing high school building, the work will include replacement of the roof and all windows and renovations to the 5,600-square-foot library, 2,756-square-foot auditorium, two music rooms totaling 2,700 square feet, three special education rooms, health and home economics rooms, 11 science and chemistry classrooms, 1,222-square-foot large group instruction room, 1,347-square-foot art room, 1,311-square-foot home & careers room, an ROTC office, and bathrooms. A smaller, second addition of 2,232 square feet will house a physical education station, including a new weight training room. The Riverhead High School, Riverhead Middle School, and Phillips Avenue Elementary are adjacent to each other and collectively create the main campus with shared sports facilities. From an interesting historical perspective, until 1937, the sports facilities were prominent polo and horse track grounds on Long Island. The $1.6 million in improvements to the main campus will include construction of a new, 1,200-seat home team bleacher bank, separate 250-seat visitor bleachers, resurfacing of a running track, repairs to the tennis courts and improvements to both the girls softball and boys baseball fields. The initial, $122-million proposal encompassed retiring the Roanoke Elementary School. A locally designated landmark, it was originally built in 1937 as a Great Depression-era Works Progress Administration project and was severely outdated as an educational facility by the time of review by BBS. The building originally served as the district's high school. It was converted into an elementary school when the new high school was erected. However, following consultations with the community, the plan to move the Roanoke Elementary's students into one of the other elementary schools was reconsidered and the school will remain in service after receiving renovations and upgrades. The $7.8-million capital plan for the Roanoke Elementary includes expansions totaling 12,700 square feet. The additions will house a new, 1,850-square-foot cafeteria; two new, 930-square-foot Kindergarten classrooms; a 612-square-foot kitchen; new special classrooms including an ESL, literary and resource room; and improvements to administrative offices encompassing a new social worker's, school psychologist's, and new principal's office, main office and waiting rooms. BBS' design team will protect the architectural value of the Roanoke Elementary, including preserving the exterior massing, materials, shapes, and neo-classical stylized architecture, while the building undergoes renovations and expansions. The $5.7-million program at the Riley Elementary includes two new, 825-square-foot classrooms; a new, 559-square-foot, state-of-the-art theatrical stage in the expanded, 4,000-square-foot, multi-purpose cafeteria space; and renovations to a 1,840-square-foot library, a 927-square-foot computer room, a 200-square-foot speech room, a literary coach room, the school psychologist/social worker room, and two 413-square-foot reading rooms. The facility will also receive a new roof, reconfigured driveways and a surface parking, and ADA improvements to its playground. The $4 million in renovations to the Phillips Elementary School include replacement of the roof, playground ADA improvements, parking reconfigurations, and upgrades to the reading rooms, ESL rooms, speech and occupational therapy/speech therapy rooms, Kindergarten, student, and faculty restroom facilities. The Aquebogue Elementary school was originally built in 1929 and previously expanded in the 1950's. Because of the age of the facility, the improvements and renovations to this location will be fairly extensive and will include a partial roof replacement, wall renovations, installation of a moveable partition in the gymnasium, and replacement of the ventilation system and the boilers. The $3.8 million in renovations and expansions to the Aquebogue Elementary School include a new 10,500-square-foot kitchen, four new reading and resource rooms totaling 1,209 square feet, speech, special education, literary coach and occupational/physical therapy rooms totaling 1,685 square feet, a new 392-square foot math room, and a 466-square-foot faculty room. The one-story, steel frame kitchen addition to the Aquebogue Elementary School will significantly improve the quality of food service for the students. Lunch meals were previously prepared at the middle school and delivered to the Aquebogue Elementary location for onsite re-heating. The two-story Pulaski Street School, located in Riverhead's Polish Town and originally erected in 1938, will receive $7.9 million in expansions and improvements. These will include additions of a new, 3,040-square-foot cafeteria, 1,145-square-foot kitchen, toilet rooms and ADA access ramp and lift, valued at $2.5 million; a partial roof replacement; roadway and parking improvements; as well as a new computer room and renovations to a 1,000-square-foot music/band room and support facilities, 1,017-square-foot music room, 1,294-square-foot large group instruction room, 891-square-foot health room, 1,268-square-foot science and prep rooms, 497-square-foot reading room, 435-square-foot lab assistant's room and four regular classrooms ranging from 601 to 972 square feet in size. A portion of the school's hallways will receive new VCT flooring. Headquartered in Patchogue, NY and established in 1975, BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers is a leading Long Island and NY/NJ/CT Tri-state area designer of sustainable educational, commercial, institutional, public and athletic facilities. The firm designed the first LEED-certified public school in New York State - the Hampton Bays Middle School in Hampton Bays, NY - which received LEED Silver certification, indicating a very high level of environmental sustainability in design and construction practices. Over the last decade, BBS has designed educational facilities valued at $1.6 billion. The firm's services include architecture, interior design and landscape architecture as well as civil, mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering. BBS' current and recent work includes the new $28.5-million, 60,000-square-foot Life Sciences Building at the Suffolk County Community College Ammerman Campus in Selden, NY, which aims at the LEED Gold certification; the 100-room Hyatt Place East End hotel in Riverhead, NY; Long Island University's $1.6-million Mullarkey Hall renovation in Brookville, NY; the new, three-story, 25,500-square-foot addition at the Southampton Elementary School in Southampton, NY; the Holy Sepulchre Cemetery Administrative Building in Coram, NY; and the new Sacred Heart Roman Catholic Church in North Merrick, NY.