For Idaho’s design and construction firms, it’s smart to head back to school

Whether it’s a new college of osteopathic medicine opening in Meridian, elementary school replacement projects on tap in Boise or a groundbreaking for a new high school in Kuna, hundreds of millions of dollars in construction spending is building the state’s educational infrastructure.

For the state’s construction, engineering and design professionals, carving out a piece of the action in one of the nation’s fastest-growing states is good business. It’s especially good to be involved in school projects, which tend to multiply when many more people are moving in, a large portion of them with school-age children.

School construction is a flourishing and vital segment of the building industry in the Gem State, said Zach Higgins, a managing member of Wright Brothers, The Building Company, and president of Associated General Contractors of Idaho. Thanks to the passage of recent bond levies, he forecasts that a flurry of activity will ensue over the next year and a half as districts upgrade gym facilities, add classroom wings and break ground on new buildings.

“Building educational facilities is so rewarding,” said Higgins, whose company has a long track record in this niche. “When you build a school, it becomes a community hub.”

“There’s a certain level of care that goes into it,” he adds, referring to the design components that relate to facilitating a first-rate learning environment. “It’s amazing how deep the science of proper educational construction is.”

As the state grows and schools are renovated or built, “we’re keeping a close eye on all potential opportunities,” Higgins said of the AGC leadership, which advocates for a trade association that would represent 600 members across the state.

Opportunities will surely increase in the near future.

On March 12, Idaho voters weighed in on the fate of nearly half a billion dollars worth of school ballot measures in nearly half of the state’s 115 school districts.

Ultimately, voters approved $86 million in bond issues and $178 million in school levies. But from Bear Lake County to Payette, several big bond issues failed — some narrowly and some by a lopsided margin, according to Idaho Education News. In North Idaho, a handful of supplemental levies fell short of the simple majority needed to pass.

The bulk of monies approved will go toward new construction, rebuilds, renovations and remodels focused on  solving overcrowding. Some of the funds will also be earmarked for hiring staff and for safety and security.

School construction in Boise

The Boise School District has seen a good deal of success when it turns to voters to supplement funding for K-12 public education.

Thanks to voters’ passage of a March 2017 bond, $172.5 million was earmarked for dozens of major capital projects, including the rebuilding of six schools on their current sites. These included Pierce Park Elementary, Highlands Elementary, Mountain View Elementary, Valley View Elementary, Whittier Elementary and Amity Elementary. The district also built a new school in the Harris Ranch area and an expansion of the district’s Professional Technical Center.

The bond is providing money for work on all 48 schools in the district, plus major building projects for 22 schools, and generating hundreds of jobs in the process, said district spokesman Dan Hollar.

In partnership with LKV Architects of Boise, general contractor Beniton Construction of Meridian recently delivered the new Whittier Elementary School. Beniton “repeat clients” also include the Vallivue, West Ada and Middleton school districts.

The new $13.9 million school at 301 N. 29^th St.  has been under construction next to the old school since October. The original school was built in 1948.

Whittier had relied on 10 portable buildings with 14 classrooms to accommodate its 519 students. The original building has a capacity of 308 students, according to a 2004 study of all Boise elementary schools.

“We had almost as many kids in portables as in the old school,” said Whittier Principal Fernanda Brendefur.

The new school’s exterior features masonry construction with low slope membrane roofing to complement the old Whittier Elementary building, a portion of which will be retained and remodeled for a new community center. The finished two-story building will offer 68,000 square feet of space.

School construction around Idaho

In other places in the Gem State, rapid population growth or dire need to replace aging structures has necessitated the passage of bonds and levies to keep pace.

In March 2017, voters in the Kuna School District approved a $40 million bond — $25 million of which was earmarked for the first phase of the new Swan Falls High School at 7165 S. Kinder Road in Meridian.

The building is scheduled to open in fall of 2020. LKV and Beniton Construction are at the helm.

Completion of the new 204,000-square-foot Lewiston High School Building is also on track to be finished  in time for the 2020 school year. The project came about as a result of the passage of a nearly $60 million bond measure in March 2018.

LKV Architects of Boise and RGU Architecture of Lewiston are the project’s architects. Kenaston Corp. and Lewiston and Leone & Keeble of Spokane share construction manager and general contractor duties.

Higher education growth

Higher education also attracts interest, and projects are coming to fruition from various funding sources. The three-story, 94,000- square-foot, $34 million Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine is a privately funded example.

The first day of classes was last August.

There are 162 students enrolled and the school will have 77 employees. ICOM aims to ease the state’s serious doctor shortage in the years to come.

Meridian’s ESI Construction, which builds many of Treasure Valley’s large-scale structures, was the general contractor.

ICOM is located on Idaho State University’s Meridian campus, which houses ISU Meridian Health Science Center. ISU and the privately owned ICOM envision future collaborative projects.

The planning process

A scorching hot construction market, competition for appropriate sites and volatility in the prices of materials such as steel and concrete make long-range planning for education projects essential.

“A lot of preliminary work goes into the most successful projects,” said Corey Johnson, an associate principal with CTA Architects Engineers. He is also the educational design studio director.

Meeting long before a bond or levy election helps set a good foundation, on both the design and master planning levels. CTA’s client list includes St Ignatius Catholic School, College of Western Idaho, College of Southern Idaho, the new Stricker Elementary School in Kimberly and Treasure Valley Community College in Ontario.

“Something that our firm embraces — and does quite well — is pre-bond planning that engages the community, faculty, staff, students and teachers,” said Johnson, who added that the firm’s first project, when it was founded 80 years ago by an architect and engineer, was a high school.

“Whether it’s our firm doing the design or guiding the planning process, we notice that the bond success rate goes up exponentially,” he added.

Johnson declined to provide a breakdown of what percentage of company revenue school construction comprises, but said, “CTA at its inception was about education, and this (area of work) continues to be a primary focus and specialty.”

Early partnerships with clients mean more informed decision on land acquisition, initial expenditures and early-stage design concepts, Johnson said. That early planning includes coming up with preliminary budgets and construction schedules in concert with the general contractor.

He made it clear that CTA and other design firms are always working to find better ways to protect students. Most of the new elementary and high schools recently built or currently under construction feature a number of security upgrades and new safety measures.

“A new school allows you to plan and design for school safety,” Johnson said.

The firm also retains a historic architect on staff. These skills come in handy whenever a project calls for an addition to a historic school building.

“You don’t want to entirely replicate the old style of the architecture, but something that is sympathetic and complementary,” Johnson said. “There’s a real art to doing this well.”

Construction cost tracking

Once a project is approved, another concern emerges: the cost of labor. It’s on the rise as employment in the construction sector accelerates. In the 12 months that ended in January 2019, the Boise metro grew its construction workforce by 11 percent, adding about 2,400 jobs from the previous year, according to a report by the Associated General Contractors of America.

“Construction employment growth remains widespread, but as unemployment hits historic lows in many metros, contractors are having ever-increasing difficulty filling positions,” said Ken Simonson, the association’s chief economist, in the report.

Filling education-related jobs bring some challenges when many companies are concentrating on residential and commercial projects such as a new home building, multifamily, retail centers and office parks,  said Higgins.

“The construction components are similar, but the procurement process (unlike a privately funded build) is a little different since schools are part of local government,” he said. Contractors have to learn the ins and outs of bidding and new approaches to project management as they execute the plan since they’ll be working closely with a lot more stakeholders: the architects and engineers driving the design and build elements, school district officials, board members, staff, parents and teachers.

Scheduling can also be a challenge since most work will be concentrated during “off times” such as weekends and summer holidays. That means construction projects need to have the most flexible labor teams and available equipment and tools on site.

As a member of the executive team at Wright, Higgins is eager to capitalize on the company’s experience on education projects. Already, the firm has worked for Boise State University and the newly built St. Ignatius School in Meridian, which was named a winner in IBR’s 2018 Top Projects.

Higgins has two children who attend St. Ignatius.

“It was a great experience all around,” he says. “My oldest son brags that his dad built the school!”

These projects, and others underway at area schools, are designed to provide the best possible learning environments for teachers and students.

Johnson agreed that the impact of this kind of infrastructure spending cannot be overstated in its economic impact, putting to work both the white-collar engineer and the blue-collar pipe fitter.

The need for expanded and improved school space is not just an Idaho issue.

The majority of America’s schools need infrastructure upgrades or replacements, according to a 2014 report from the National Center for Education Statistics. The Center found that 53 percent of public schools need to spend money on repairs, renovations and modernizations to be in “good overall condition.”

The total dollar value of educational construction work done in the United States (including 50 states and the District of Columbia) is estimated to have exceed $99.6 billion dollars in 2017. This is the largest year-over-year increase seen since 2008, according to a facilities and construction overview published in February 2018 by College Planning and Management magazine.