ENR MidAtlantic's 2015 Owner of the Year: DC Public Schools
Mangrum also credits the use of design competitions for some of its recent success. Woodrow Wilson High School, which was extensively renovated in 2010 and 2011, was the first public school project in D.C. to use a design competition. The LEED Gold-certified school, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, received multiple awards for both green building and historic preservation. Contracts for Dunbar and Ballou were also awarded through design competitions. Mangrum notes that in some cases, architects have been provided a stipend as an incentive to push for excellence in design.
"We've been able to attract renowned architects and get them to propose innovative ideas," he says. "That helped lead to monumental projects that are not only world-class today but also will stand the test of time for the next 50 years."
The school construction program also aims to surpass work-force requirements. In addition to its commitment to hiring small, minority-owned, women-owned and/or disadvantaged businesses on its projects, DGS also pushes its contractors to hire D.C. residents. Under its Workforce Incentive Program, contractors can receive financial incentives if more than 35% of total hours worked are performed by District of Columbia residents. In the first year of that program, hours worked on school construction projects by D.C. residents was above 50%.
"When we opened Ballou, it was very touching because you saw that people in the community built the school," Stesney says. "Generations of community members are connected to that school."
To date, 80 schools have received either full modernization or Phase 1 improvements. Twenty-one are in progress, with another 28 slated for future work. Major construction projects that broke ground last year include the $139.2-million Duke Ellington School of the Arts modernization, the $131.6-million Roosevelt High School modernization, the $37-million Horace Mann Elementary School modernization and the $28-million Kramer Middle School renovation.
With much of the program executed during the economic downturn, Mangrum admits that the program could be challenged by price escalations now that the economy has improved. Still, he says the program will hold to its mission.
"The agency still wants to push the envelope," he says. "We can always improve and build even better schools."
