Roxana School District’s Facility Planning Committee identified a need for a junior high school gymnasium in 2009. Roxana, an industrial community located in southwest Illinois 30 minutes from downtown St. Louis, awarded a contract for the new gym in 2016 to Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, Inc. (K&L), in Highland, Illinois, to build the addition.
The architect designed the gymnasium to attach to the north side of the existing Roxana Junior High School, extending the look and feel of the original structure. However, building onto the existing school posed many challenges.
The construction site was very small and surrounded on all sides by parking lots, an existing road, and the school. There was little room for equipment, trailers, vehicles, a lay-down area, and navigation. Trucks and large equipment had no way to turn around after entering the site, which often required them to back in. Nearby power lines were so close that additional safety measures were necessary for safe operation of a crane boom.
The gymnasium with a wooden floor laid over moisture-barrier-sealed concrete.
The wrestling room.
Most of the construction took place during the school year, which created daily traffic of school buses, students, teachers, and parents. Ensuring the safety of everyone required careful planning and daily coordination of work.
All trades worked in dedicated progressive areas, switching to nonconflicting areas to maximize productivity and minimize crossing work paths. Everyone worked during school holidays and weekends to get work done in critical areas when student traffic was minimal and more controllable.
K&L began by pouring the footings, foundations, and gymnasium floor slab to allow time to construct the insulated tilt-up wall forms on the gymnasium floor. As a precaution, school officials relocated students from classrooms next to the building site while crews lifted and set the tilt-up walls next to the school.
The 23,203-square-foot addition includes a gymnasium with a wooden floor laid over moisture-barrier-sealed concrete, locker rooms, a wrestling room, a kitchenette with concession stand, a mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) room, and ADA accessible ramps and stairways. The Roxana School District was able to open the new gym for the 2017 school year.
K&L is grateful to the school administrators, teachers, students, bus drivers, parents, subcontractors, and delivery drivers. Their cooperation and understanding during construction allowed everyone to navigate around this congested jobsite safely.
General Contractor & Cost Estimator
Korte & Luitjohan Contractors, Inc.
12052 Highland Road, Highland, IL 62249
www.korteluitjohan.com
Project Team
Architect
FGM Architects
475 Regency Park, #325, O’Fallon, IL 62269
Structural Engineer
Fenix Construction Company
4655 Lemay Ferry Road, Saint Louis, MO 63129
Mechanical Engineer
Jen Mechanical, Inc.
2813 W. Delmar Avenue, Godfrey, IL 62035
Electrical Engineer
Pyramid Electrical Contractors, Inc.
300 Monticello Place, Fairview Heights, IL 62208
Project General Description
Location: Roxana, Illinois
Date Bid: Jun 2016
Construction Period: Aug 2016 to Aug 2017
Total Square Feet: 23,203 Site: 1.45 acres
Number of Buildings: One; seating 460
Building Sizes: First floor, 23,203; total, 23,203 square feet
Building Height: First floor, 40′; total, 40′
Basic Construction Type: New/Tilt-Up
Foundation: Cast-in-place, reinforced concrete, slab-on-grade
Exterior Walls: Tilt-up
Roof: Membrane, steel bar joist deck
Floors: Concrete, wood, vinyl composite tile
BNi ACCESS™ Square Foot Case Number EU260336
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