Evansville School District Referendum Project

JP Cullen’s partnership with the Evansville School District started over 100 years ago in the 1890’s with the original construction of the high school. Ever since, JP Cullen has completed all construction and renovations to all District buildings. Most recently we completed the $34 million referendum that passed in November 2018. This project included:

• Phased renovation and addition to JC McKenna Middle School allowing students to remain in the existing school while construction is completed
• Safety and security to Grove Campus
• Roof replacement at high school
• High School addition and renovation to expand hands-on shop
• Renovation to create fabrication lab and new classroom spaces

Tight schedule

3D Coordination

We coordinated the new spaces virtually using the subcontractor’s 3D shop drawings to help plan the work. To increase installation schedule, the team designed 3D multi trade racks for the MEP mains on each floor of the school. Racks included ductwork, plumbing, hydronic piping, and fire protection. Utilizing the rack system allowed the team to maintain all ceiling heights that were originally called for on the construction documents.

Due to the tight schedule, complete 3D coordination wasn’t viable for the existing parts of the school. We used the coordination model as a planning and sequencing tool to have a better understanding of the spatial needs for the new MEP systems.

The team met with Hallmark during planning and decided to pursue exterior wall panels. Hallmark built steel stud panels with densglass pre-installed offsite in their shop which allowed them to work in a controlled environment with no weather delays; especially important since the work was being completed in December. Hallmark then shipped the panels to site and installed them in 3 weeks. The building was enclosed, and other trades were able to start their weather sensitive work earlier, shaving a week off schedule.

BIM coordination was also utilized for MEPF racking systems. Total Mechanical teamed up with Monona Plumbing and USA Fire Protection to build 24 MEPF racks offsite in their shop. Once delivered onsite, the racks were able to be installed with fewer tradesmen and created less packaging waste, greatly reducing congestion at the face of the work. Piping and ductwork were all insulated prior to shipping to site, limiting the amount of time tradesmen spent working at an elevated height. All the racks were built and shipped in sequence, increasing efficiency reducing worker and material movement during installation. By racking MEP equipment, the crew was able to save one week of overall schedule.

LaForce supplied wood doors with the hardware pre-installed. This greatly reduced the install time of each door which allowed the doors to be installed by fewer carpenters, freeing up our carpenters to work on other items such as casework and markerboards. Having the hardware complete on the door also eliminated the need for a hardware room onsite. The doors were sequenced by area, which allowed just in time delivery of the doors as each area of the school reached substantial completion.