Lower Merion and Harriton High school
Commissioning Services

Project Profile:

Type:		Commissioning
Project:		Lower Merion and Harriton High Schools
Owner:		Lower Merion School District
Location:		Ardmore, Pennsylvania
Project Type:		K-12
Square Footage:		330,000 sf
Completion Date:		Anticipated November 2009
Architect:		DWKB, Inc.
Engineer:		Snyder Hoffman Associates
Construction Manager:		Foreman Program and Construction Managers

Project Description:
Being built simultaneously, Lower Merion High School and Harriton High School will each total approximately 330,000 sf and have classroom wings of two and three stories with the gymnasium, auditorium and cafeteria areas single story construction.  The ground floor will be slab on grade.  The total construction budget for both schools is $150 million, or $75 for each school.  Each facility will include classrooms, laboratories, kitchens, offices, gymnasiums and a theatre.

Both schools will be delivered as traditional "design/ build" projects with full design documents by the architect and engineer.  The Owner hired a construction management firm (CM) for construction management and administration.  Through the CM, the Owner hired eight prime construction contractors as well as the commissioning agent (CxA) and the test adjust and balance (TAB) contractor.  The other eight contractors will be general, demolition, food services, theatrical, HVAC, plumbing, electricla and data cabling.  The organizational structure provides for all the contractors, the design team and the CxA to report to the CM.

The project has been targeted to achieve the basic level of certification from the US Green Buidling Council's LEED program.  It was registered as a LEED program with the USGBC on August 20, 2004.  This certification requires extra documentation, enhanced specifications and both basic and "extra point" commissioning, as described by ASHRAE Guideline 1-1996.

The schedule calls for the project design to be completed in Fall 2006, construction to begin in late 2006 and construction to be complete in the first half of 2009.