Charter School Archives - سԹ /tag/charter_school/ Design - Construction - Operations Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 /wp-content/uploads/2026/01/cropped-SCN_favicon-32x32.png Charter School Archives - سԹ /tag/charter_school/ 32 32 The Community Group’s New Educational Facility Hits Construction Milestone /2025/12/02/the-community-groups-new-educational-facility-hits-construction-milestone/ /2025/12/02/the-community-groups-new-educational-facility-hits-construction-milestone/#respond Tue, 02 Dec 2025 16:06:34 +0000 /?p=54410 The Community Group (TCG), a nonprofit dedicated to education and family support, celebrated a major project milestone with the signing of the structural steel framing for the organization’s new educational facility in Lawrence.

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]]> During the school day, the facility will serve as home to 480 CDCPS students in grades 5–8, providing a unified middle school experience. | Photo Credit: The Community Group, Finegold Alexander Architects

By Lindsey Coulter

LAWRENCE, Mass. — The Community Group (TCG), a nonprofit dedicated to education and family support, celebrated a major project milestone with the signing of the structural steel framing for the organization’s new educational facility in Lawrence. The much-anticipated project broke ground in July and will transform learning and care opportunities for local children and families. The project is part of TCG’s goal to establish a new, year-round home for several of its programs. During the school day, the facility will serve as home to 480 CDCPS students in grades 5–8, providing a unified middle school experience. The facility is expected to open in summer 2027.

“This beam that we’re about to sign represents our shared mission for what this educational facility will offer to our students, our family, and our community,” said Maria Gonzalez Moeller, TCG Chief Executive Officer, at the event. “It symbolizes growth, opportunity and our continued commitment to providing high quality learning environments to the children and families of Lawrence.”

When complete, the new 53,000-square-foot facility will house theCommunity Kids Place, TCG’s school-age childcare and enrichment program which serves approximately 300 children,and it will unify three upper school campuses of Community Day Charter Public School under one roof. The building will also serve the broader community through after-school programs, athletics and youth summer activities. Located on the site of a former farm, the facility will include instructional space, offices, gymnasium, cafeteria, playing fields and outdoor learning areas for a seamless connection to nature.

The project team includes construction firm W.T. Rich, real estate consulting firm QPD, and Finegold Alexander Architects

“We’ve really enjoyed working so closely with the whole TCG team to bring this project to fruition,” said Regan Shields Ives, Principal and K-12 Studio Leader at Finegold Alexander Architects. “We set out to make this new educational facility one that really reflects the TCG community of children, educators, parents and caregivers; one that is warm, safe, and inviting as well as inspiring.”

In addition to serving as will a year-round, versatile educational hub, it will include nnovative instruction and project-based learning, supported by dedicated STEM and enrichment classrooms serving both school-day and out-of-school-time programs. The building will also offer access to indoor recreation, sports programming, and communal gatherings, anchored by a modern full-sized gymnasium and a welcoming cafeteria with A/V capabilities. Nature-based educational and recreational experiences will take place across acres of outdoor green space, promoting physical wellness and social-emotional growth. A nurturing environment with thoughtfully designed classroom pods and breakout spaces will foster personalized learning and include home-like design touches to promote comfort and connection.

At the July groundbreaking event, Moeller noted that the project is more than simply a building.

“It represents our commitment to creating a modern, community-centered environment where children and families can thrive,” said Moeller. “This new facility will provide the space, design, and resources necessary to support high-quality learning and care for generations to come.”

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]]> /2025/12/02/the-community-groups-new-educational-facility-hits-construction-milestone/feed/ 0 Consigli to Help Lead D.C. Charter School Project /2019/06/27/consigli-to-help-lead-d-c-charter-school-project/ Thu, 27 Jun 2019 16:48:47 +0000 http://schoolconstructionnews.com/?p=47111 Consigli Construction Co., Inc. and Keystone Plus will kick off the construction of a new middle school this summer at Friendship Public Charter School in Ward 8, a community in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington D.C.

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]]> By SCN Staff

WASHINGTON D.C.—Consigli Construction Co., Inc. and Keystone Plus will kick off the construction of a new middle school this summer at Friendship Public Charter School in Ward 8, a community in the Anacostia neighborhood of Washington D.C. The charter middle school will be new ground-up construction, span approximately 35,000 square feet, and stand three stories tall. Additional construction work at Friendship includes a new gym, a parking area and an elementary school playground that is anticipated to be completed in time for the 2020/2021 academic year.

For this project at Friendship, Consigli has joint-ventured with Keystone Plus Construction Corporation, which is headquartered in Ward 8 near the Friendship campus. Carlos Perdomo, chief executive officer and president of Keystone, has had a long-standing relationship with Consigli’s D.C. Director of Operations, Eric Tievy. Their relationship helped establish a strategic partnership between Consigli and Keystone in the D.C. market as a commitment to engage with the local community on both the subcontractor level as well as the local workforce level to build the school. Consigli and Keystone will also partner with Michael Marshall Design on the school’s design.

“This exciting, transformative project will address a significant community need to improve the learning conditions for young students in the Ward 8 community,” said Tievy. “The new Friendship Public Charter middle school will be the result of bridging community input with local execution, and we are looking forward to working with our D.C. partners to build facilities for students to learn and thrive for years to come.”

“As a local, small business enterprise based in Ward 8, we could not be more excited and are looking forward to working on this important academic project in our own neighborhood,” said Carlos Perdomo, chief executive officer and president of Keystone Plus. “We’ve been able to learn from Consigli over the years, and now with its added resources, our partnership is able to focus on projects that will have a direct impact on the community’s needs. Friendship Public Charter is an important initiative that we’re grateful to be a part of.”

Consigli will also have two alumni of Friendship Public Charter School working as interns on the project. One is Latrice Black, an alumna of Friendship and a recent winner of ACE Mentor Program of D.C.’s Women In Construction Alumni Scholarship, who joined Consigli in the summer of 2018. The other is Fabian Pineda, a 2019 graduate of Friendship who also joined Consigli through the ACE Mentor Program of D.C.

Consigli Construction Co., Inc. is a leading construction manager with offices in Washington, D.C., Boston and Milford, Massachusetts, Portland, Maine, Hartford, Connecticut and New York State serving clients throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. A fourth-generation family-led business, Consigli provides construction management services for corporate, academic, health care, institutional, life sciences, and government clients. Consigli is recognized by Engineering News-Record as one of the 100-largest in the country and has received numerous awards and recognition for its craftsmanship and employment practices. For more information, visit .

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]]> BIM in the Field /2010/03/23/bim-in-the-field/ /2010/03/23/bim-in-the-field/#respond The design and construction industry has been aware for some time of building information modeling. Some have been reluctant to embrace BIM while others have adopted it with open arms and invested in its implementation. This has resulted in a slow migration to adoption across the entire design and construction community.

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]]> The design and construction industry has been aware for some time of building information modeling. Some have been reluctant to embrace BIM while others have adopted it with open arms and invested in its implementation. This has resulted in a slow migration to adoption across the entire design and construction community.
Some design firms have been slow to accept the new platform because it requires a paradigm shift in the technical production of construction documents and a different skill set for technical staff. It also requires a significant initial financial investment for firms in terms of technology and staff training.
Contractors have also been slow to embrace BIM for a variety of reasons, including a lack of quality BIM models coming from design firms and reluctance by owners to compensate general contractors or construction managers for the expenses necessary to develop BIM databases that sufficiently address a project’s specific requirements.
I have seen a trend over the last year of more owners requesting BIM deliverables in RFQs, RFPs and contracts at a greater frequency. The problem is that not all BIM models are created equally or are clearly defined at the beginning to adequately address the needs of the project and the owner or end-users.

BIM and the New Paradigm

This is an appropriate time to step back and explain what BIM and the new paradigm entails.
BIM is a powerful tool that is just beginning to be tapped as an essential resource by building owners, contractors and designers. Basic BIM benefits include clash detection, material quantity takeoffs and visualization.
Projects in the education market especially benefit from the creation of reusable modules. BIM is not just software; it is a process that goes beyond traditional two-dimensional CAD to create objects and intelligent building systems. The result is a graphic representation with a database of intelligent building data used by various members of the industry to design, construct, furnish and maintain the built environment.
A true BIM deliverable provides a database of building design and system information. From this central database, different views of the information are generated. Because the resulting construction documents are derived from the same database, they are continuously coordinated and updated. This includes not only graphics and drawings but also data such as building materials and building system information.
Data included in the model can be exported to other traditional construction management software to generate and coordinate schedules and cost estimates and to develop phasing information. Construction professionals review the model and visualize complex areas before any activity starts.
BIM requires a higher level of involvement and decision-making at earlier stages of the project compared to traditionally planned capital projects. This, along with the slow development of MEP software development necessary for civil, structural and architectural work, has been part of the reason for the slow adoption of BIM across the project team.
KAI Texas, a regional project management and construction/architectural firm based in Texas that serves several markets, began investing in BIM in earnest in 2006, and we are well beyond the early adoption stage.
Owners and contractors are on board and architects and engineers have trained staff and invested in the system needs. Some states — most notably California — have taken this a step further by adopting integrated project delivery, which pools all parties into a shared contractual agreement.
BIM Trims Costs

BIM can dramatically reduce construction cost overruns. During a recent KAI project, When the MEP and fire-protection drawings were integrated into the BIM model, a potential system clash between the electrical cable raceways and the HVAC duct runs was detected.
Immediately, we met with the owner, engineer, general contractor and subcontractors to review the BIM model, study a visual illustration of the conflict from various viewpoints and devise a plan for resolution. With BIM, any clash created by the solution can be identified during this process.
In this case, clash detection and resolution prevented a potentially costly or time-consuming delay. A three-hour meeting saved thousands of dollars in change orders and several weeks of potential construction delays. That is what makes the BIM process so attractive.
Developing standards through BIM can also offer long-term savings. For example, our firm developed standard housing units and classroom prototypes. Using this information, much of the MEP trade work could be prefabricated off-site under controlled conditions, resulting in higher quality at lower cost.

BIM Collects Metrics

In another case, BIM services were introduced in the design and construction of an 11-story, 540,000-square-foot research center. This provided a unique opportunity to analyze BIM’s value, as a nearly identical building had previously been built on the campus without BIM.
The analysis showed that using BIM resulted in a 50 percent reduction in requests for information, a reduction of more than 50 percent in coordination-related change orders and a shortening of the construction schedule by six months.
 
The latest uses of BIM include conceptual programming, facility assessment and record documents. BIM can also help a project quantify for LEED points throughout the planning and construction process.
Also, in today’s economy, a significant number of owners are renovating existing facilities as opposed to building new. The use of BIM in documenting existing conditions for use in developing the new functions is growing. BIM provides the designers, owners and construction managers early information that is important to developing a comprehensive approach to efficiently and effectively minimizing unknowns.
As concepts are explored, the benefits of BIM allow quick progression of ideas through the filter of clashes, quantities and schedules, and allow lifecycle analysis to meet sustainability objectives.
 
Darren L. James, AIA, is president and COO of KAI Texas LC, a corporation headquartered in Dallas with offices in Fort Worth. James can be reached at 214-742-0400 or dljames@kaitexas.com. 
 
 
 

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