By the start of the 2003 school year, high school students in the Owings Mills, MD, area will have a brand new school.
Construction of the building is well under way under the direction of Oak Contracting Corporation, Baltimore. Work began on Aug. 15, 2001, and is scheduled to be complete by July 15, 2003.
According to Mark Harvison, Oak Contracting’s assistant project manager, the total cost for site development and the building is $27.5 million. The school is being constructed on a 65-acre (26.3 ha) lot directly across from New Town Elementary School, and is part of the Baltimore County Public School System.
Harvison reported that the building is supported on spread footings and is constructed of an all-steel frame structural system. Steel columns at the exterior and interior walls support both the roof and floor systems, and bearing walls are utilized at the gymnasium and at isolated locations around the building. However, the majority of the exterior masonry walls are non-bearing.
The first-floor slab is constructed of 5 in. (12.7 cm) of concrete reinforced with welded wire mesh. Four in. (10.2 cm) of gravel is placed under the slab to allow for proper drainage. The second floor system is constructed of a total of 4.5 in. (11.4 cm) of concrete slab supported on 2-in. (5 cm) 22-gauge composite metal deck, which is reinforced with welded wire mesh. The deck is carried by composite design procedures for a stiff economical floor system. The majority of the roof system consists of steel beams supporting steel joists. Above the gym, A-frame trusses carry an acoustical long-span metal deck.
A total of 500,000 cu. yds. (382,280 cu m) of dirt was moved for the project, and the site is being constructed to meet the high school programmatic requirements. The total student capacity will be 1,286. The gym will hold 2,025 people; the auditorium, 926; and the cafeteria, 405.
The paved areas will include parking for approximately 400 vehicles, a bus lane to accommodate 18 buses in a chevron pattern, and a separate drop-off lane for cars.
Sidewalks will be provided around the entire perimeter of the building for safe pedestrian access. Physical education requirements include six tennis courts, two exterior basketball courts, two softball fields, two junior baseball fields, two soccer fields, and one field hockey/lacrosse field along with one stadium baseball field and one football/soccer/lacrosse stadium with regulation track and field areas.
“Because of the fast-track nature of the project,” Harvison said, “daily coordination with the consulting engineers and architect have been critical to maintaining the schedule and quality of work.”
The architect for the project is Grimm & Parker, Calverton, MD. Major subcontractors include D. Brooks Cross, Upper Marlboro, MD, electrical/mechanical; T.C. Simons Inc., Fallston, MD, sitework and utilities; DGS Construction Inc., Owings Mills, MD, concrete; C.F. Masonry, Elkridge, MD, masonry; S.A. Halac Iron Works Inc., steel; Hancock & Albanese Inc., Owings Mills, MD, carpentry and architectural woodwork; CitiRoof Corporation, Columbia, MD, roofing and skylights; Towson Mechanical Inc., Cockeysville, MD, mechanical; and The Crown Electric Company, Timonium, MD, electrical.
S.A. Halac Iron Works used a P&H 70-ton (63 t) crane and a C-226 crane for its portion of the job.
T. C. Simons’ equipment list included several Volvo A-30 artic trucks, a Caterpillar D-8N dozer, a Caterpillar D-8N dozer with ripper, a Caterpillar CS563D roller, a Caterpillar D6HIIDS crawler dozer, several John Deere crawler dozers, a Caterpillar D-6R XLCAC crawler dozer, several XL4100 Gradall excavators, a Caterpillar 12H motorgrader, several John Deere crawler excavators, a Caterpillar 315BL crawler excavator with bucket, several John Deere wheel loaders and wheel loader backhoes, a Gehl 1649 paver, a Cedarapids CR361R paver, several Caterpillar 621F scrapers, several Ingersoll-Rand 48DD rollers, several Caterpillar rollers, several Caterpillar track loaders, Volvo A30C articulated haulers, Mack dump trucks, and Peterbilt dump trucks.
Brenda Ruggiero
Brenda Ruggiero has written for CEG for over 20 years. She lives near the town of Accident in far western Maryland. Her favorite assignments so far involved interviews with Survivor’s Boston Rob and hot dog eating champion Joey Chestnut. Both were involved in construction at one time.
Brenda holds a BA in Mass Communication with a writing focus from Frostburg State University and minors in Public Relations and Political Science. She works full time as a staff writer for a weekly newspaper, the Garrett County Republican. She enjoys feature writing the most, which gives her the opportunity to talk to people and share their stories.
Brenda and her middle school sweetheart, Reuben, have been married for over 34 years and have three grown children and four cats.
Read more from Brenda Ruggiero here.
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