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Health & Fitness

VIDEO: District 113 Tests HPHS 100-year-Old Buildings

Results will impact District 113's Long Range Facility Plan.

District 113 is currently developing a Long Range Facility Plan for Deerfield and Highland Park High Schools to address long term needs including education, infrastructure, technology, repair and maintenance. One component of the planning process is to figure out what to do with two older 1914 buildings at Highland Park High School.
 
This summer, District 113 hired Building Technology Consultants to conduct testing on the exterior of the B and C buildings at HPHS, which are almost 100-years-old. Their objective was to pinpoint the cause of water leakage and determine if the buildings’ envelope could be saved and rehabbed for a minimum of 50 years. Interior analysis still needs to be done. 
 
“We are known for forensic evaluation of existing building envelope components,” BTC Principal Kami Farahmandpour explained. “We look at existing buildings, their problems, we diagnose what the problems are, what the cause of the problems are and we develop repairs for them.”
 
BTC reviewed the buildings’ historical documents, conducted a visual inspection and a comprehensive field investigation which included water testing. They also took certain walls apart to analyze their defects.
 
In August, BTC presented four repair options to District 113 which ranged from $4.5-to-$8.3 million. These costs would solely cover the repair and maintenance of the outside envelope of the buildings. There would be an additional price tag for interior repairs. Click here to read the entire BTC report.
 
“In general we found that the building exteriors were really not in that bad of shape for buildings of their age but they do require repairs in order to be in service for the next 50-years,” Farahmandpour said. “The first thing the Board of Education has to decide is which repair approach they are going to take.”
 
Before the Board of Education decides anything, they will see more cost analysis. District 113’s architect Perkins+Will is designing alternatives for the inside of the buildings and the construction management firm Gilbane is analyzing the costs of rehabbing the interior of the buildings as well. They’re also pricing out what it would cost the District to tear down the buildings and build new. All options will be presented to the Board of Education. 
 
District 113 followed BTC testing. Click on our video to watch and hear from engineers.

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