[Editor’s Note: Mr. Fullen is an officer of the Balfour Beatty Construction company in charge of the School District’s capital improvements projects.]
The majority of Culver City schools are more than a half-century old. After decades of use by
hundreds of thousands of children, the School District’s school facilities are overdue,
in dire need of repair and modernization.
Many of the schools pose safety concerns:
- Large cracks in the asphalt and concrete surfaces of playgrounds and walkways,
- Toilets that often malfunction because of old plumbing,
- Nonexistent outdoor lighting in school hallways and common walkways,
- Potholes in playfields and,
- Aged athletic facilities and balance of fields.
Along with these safety concerns, there is a large need to upgrade HVAC systems, bring school site facilities up to current technology needs, eliminate ADA code compliance issues, complete the balance of Culver City High School’s aging athletic facilities, and more that will be discussed throughout this analysis.
After several site walks and discussions, common themes have surfaced throughout
District:
- Remove and replace exterior window systems. New window systems to include drips,
sills, cladding of structural members and tinted glass. Need to provide a separate value
for window coverings. - Remove and replace all glue-up 1’ x 1’ acoustical tiles with drywall ceilings, T‐Bar
ceilings or tectum panels as the function of the room dictates. - Remove and replace lighting, mechanical registers, fire alarm devices, speaker/PA
systems, projectors, projector screens as required.
Improve technology infrastructure and equipment. - Prepare and paint all interior and exterior surfaces.
- Seal and repair exposed brick surfaces.
- Provide crack repair and epoxy injection as necessary.
- Strip all exterior louvers back to base materials.
- At all restrooms, provide new epoxy flooring or ceramic tile, new partitions and
accessories, and new plumbing fixtures. - Remove playground equipment and replace with new.
- Remove playground surfacing and surrounding curbs, and replace with new to make all
play areas ADA/handicap accessible. - Replace/rework all portable classrooms/ modular classrooms handrails to make code-
compliant. - Install new LED technology lighting at all building exteriors.
- Remove and replace all dry‐rotted or termite- damaged wood.
- Survey and remove abandoned low voltage lines.
- Refurbish or remove and replace casework throughout.
- Provide additional staff parking.
- Provide new HVAC systems at all schools.
- Provide HVAC‐based High Performance Air Filtering Capabilities (MERV 16) at one or
more schools. - Further improve the athletic fields at the high school.
- Further improve the Robert Frost Auditorium.
- State‐of‐the‐art school‐site emergency lockdown systems and classroom notification
systems. - Refurbishment and conversion of the Natatorium.
- Facilities for Culver Park High School
Here Is the Process
Through a four-month collaborative process, the School District, with the assistance of various consultants, evaluated the needs of all school sites District-wide.
This process was inclusive of field site evaluations at all sites and discussions with each school site principal and facilities staff, researching existing as‐built blueprints and District specification standards, District-wide roof assessments, which included core sampling of roof for composition and wear, assessment of any remaining concealed, potentially hazardous materials known to be encapsulated, documentation of conditions, visual inspections, trade contractor input and mapping of potential costs through consultant historical cost index data bases, site-mapping and quantity takeoffs (estimates), and third party experts for review of specific scope of work.
Evaluation Criteria
To ensure all areas were reviewed during the needs assessment, the evaluation criterion below
was established and then further broken down into CSI, Construction Specifications Institute,
format.
This provides a master list of divisions, section numbers and titles within each division to follow in organizing information about facilities construction requirements and associated activities.
Conclusion
Since the majority of the Culver City schools are past 50 years old, the District school
facilities are overdue. In dire need of repair and modernization, they should be brought up to modern standards.
Orange County-based Mr. Fullen, a vice president of Balfour Beatty Construction, may be contacted at gfullen@balfourbeattyus.com
