Moving project management to the cloud helped transform a nearly 100-year-old campus into a modern, tech-forward educational facility.

Through the $47.5-million I.M. Terrell Academy for STEM and VPA project, the Fort Bend Independent School District sought to combine science, technology, engineering and math with visual and performing arts on the historic campus.

With a large project team, simply maintaining efficient communication presented major obstacles. Turner researched and found cloud-based project management software that allowed team members, owners, architects and trade partners to access and immediately share project information. This system helped reduce costs while improving productivity.

The project team set a goal of having drawings 100% coordinated within a four-month window. Although the first BIM coordination meeting uncovered more than 10,000 clashes in the project’s theater equipment systems, the team was able to troubleshoot and resolve 75% of these inconsistencies within three months, helping the team meet its overall target.

The team renovated two historic buildings, adding modern classrooms, labs and maker spaces. The new design created an enclosed campus with one main entrance, centered around a new courtyard for students.

The school district wanted the campus to feature a large covered porch area for dining and learning, but the initial architectural design was structurally intense and costly. The project team adopted the idea to install a gas-station style canopy to save money—ultimately creating the largest canopy of this type in the region.

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