LAUSD's First Design-Build Project Starts Second Phase
The design-build team of Pinner Construction Co. and gkkworks recently started work on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s first design-build project in its 51-year history.
The $28-million Dorsey High School redevelopment project also received an unprecedented quick approval by the Division of the State Architect. After submitting the construction documents, Pinner, Anaheim, and gkkworks, Pasadena, got an OK after just seven months. “Normally, it takes nine to 12 months to get these projects approved,” said gkkworks principal Vincent H. Petito.
The project, which is scheduled to be completed in June 2014, consists of several phases to ensure minimal disruption to the fully operational campus:
• The first phase, completed in 2011, consisted of providing 17 interim classroom buildings, underground infrastructure for all of the phases of the project and the demolition of existing classroom buildings and the girl’s gymnasium.
• The second phase, now under way, includes the construction of a two-story, 28,000-sq-ft classroom building and 22,000-sq-ft gymnasium.
• The final phase includes the modernization of an existing 19,000-sq-ft gymnasium facility.
The new construction components will be designed and constructed to achieve a LEED silver rating, according to gkkworks.
Justin Davis, Pinner’s director of pre-construction services, and Petito attributed the DSA’s rapid approval for the remaining phases of the project to the design-build method, in which the general contractor, architect and subcontractors all worked together to prepare one set of construction documents to present to the DSA.
“Many components that are deferred in a design-bid-build delivery method and would have been presented later for approval were included in the initial set of construction documents that were approved by DSA for our project,” Davis said. “With the design-build delivery method we were able to capture all those components in the initial approval. It took the effort of all team members, including LAUSD design and facilities management and Pinner Construction’s subcontractors. It was a total team collaboration.”
