Wichita Falls Independent School District Career and Technical Education Center
Features & Highlights
- Value engineered the project for a savings of $3 million
Project Overview
When it came to building a new career and technical education center for Wichita Falls Independent School District, the joint venture team of Trinity Hughes|Sundt made sure to put student learning first. The project team saved the district $3 million in value engineering and made up for weather delays to make sure there was no impact to the learning environment and the start of the school year.
As part of the value engineering, the team was able to replace an expensive limestone veneer with a similar, but less costly, material. When the team lost two months due to extreme weather and rain delays, they looked for solutions to complete the project in the now constrained schedule. They drilled all of the piers for the foundation of the building off of crane mats and established a temporary lime-stabilized access road in order to get the foundation started. They worked seven days a week for 12-plus hours a day, plus night shifts for months, to overcome the schedule challenges.
The 123,000-square-foot education center offers spaces for students to explore a variety of career paths. Facilities include a TV studio, auto-tech shop, construction lab, medical lab and more. The center’s modern educational design also includes a modern “learning stair” design instead of a traditional auditorium. Completed in 2017, the CTE center is now helping to prepare WFISD’s high-schoolers for direct entry into careers or college.