With completion of a new academy of technology, engineering, mathematics and science dubbed The LIFT in August 2021, the Abilene community has a $38.6-million, two-story career and technical education high school capable of serving 1,600 students. The campus consists of 20 academic classrooms, an art room, computer labs, science classrooms with labs, a robotics lab, an automotive technology shop, a welding shop, a construction technology shop, a culinary kitchen and a TV studio.

Although long envisioned by the Abilene Independent School District, the project was challenged from the outset when bids came in approximately $5 million over budget. Contractor SEDALCO’s preconstruction department worked with subcontractors and suppliers to provide a comprehensive list of cost savings ideas. After several meetings, various suggestions were selected that allowed the project to get back on budget without sacrificing the design intent. The extensive number of changes required additional attention to construction plans and the schedule to make sure they reflected the changes.

The 12-acre site was adjacent to an airport, so coordination with airport management was required during steel erection. Crane operations were managed to prevent interference with airport operations.

One goal of the high school is to welcome both students who want to learn a trade and students who want to learn design under the same roof, allowing for collaboration between the two sides. Design firm Huckabee envisioned four collaboration areas throughout the school, allowing students to connect via large displays for reviewing designs and projects.

Each instructional area is equipped with tools to help ensure that the skills learned will transfer into the real world. All workspaces allow for multiple students to have hands-on training, whether changing tires on one of the two car lifts in the automotive shop or producing and editing in the TV studio and control room.

Over 221,000 work-hours, SEDALCO reported no OSHA recordable incidents and no lost-time accidents.