Masonry Magazine September 2001 Page. 39
You see, while you will be running from one warm, dry office to another, your children are contending with icy, cold conditions. Oh, and not icy, cold conditions outside of the building but, icy cold conditions inside the school. Where warmth should be, winds blow through cracks ever so slightly, making it hard for the school's furnace to keep an even warmth throughout the room. The children nearest to the outside cannot help but stare at the layers of frost building up on the inside of the walls just feet away from their desks.
Sound like a bizarre Stephen King novel? But as bizarre as it may sound, these conditions are what 730 students at Chicago's Ralph Bunche Elementary School faced each winter morning as irate parents sought a solution. That is what officials at Chicago Public Schools confronted two years ago as they wrestled with how to correct a situation gone bad.
The problem began 27 years ago as the City of Chicago and its Public School System sought what they thought would be a fast, cost-effective solution to the overcrowding problem and aging schools. They turned to pre-cast concrete construction to build more than 50 schools in the early 1970's. But what was supposed to be a sound solution to building new schools quickly turned into a major dilemma challenging one of the largest public school systems in the country today. The question that needed to be answered was do they tear down and build new schools, displacing thousands of school children during a lengthy construction process, or do they renovate the existing ones. And if they renovate, which building material should be used?
Paul Vallas, Superintendent of Chicago Public Schools turned to the services of F&V Construction and the decision was made to renovate using masonry. The challenge placed on F&V and the Chicago school system was to not just renovate the existing schools, replacing the precast concrete with brick and block masonry construction but to renovate the entire school in less than 10 weeks. No one believed that the project could be completed in such a short period of time ready to start the new school year in the fall.
So the test was on and on June 12, 2000 as school let out for the summer, work began to replace old concrete
Old concrete precast panels created tremendous maintenance problems and a cold warehouse feeling, forcing school officials to renovate.
A newly renovated Bunche school (included 160,000 brick and block) awaited 750 students at the start of the new year.
Masonry crews from F&V Construction worked so fast that they pushed the demolition crews.
MASONRY - SEPTEMBER, 2001 39