Since last December 14, safety has become the paramount concern of every school official and school board member in this country. December 14, 2012, was the date on which 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed 20 children and six adult staff members at Sandy Hook Elementary School, in Newtown, Conn. It was the second deadliest mass shooting by a single person in U.S. history, after the Virginia Tech tragedy of 2007.
Sandy Hook galvanized school officials, parents, public officials, and police departments, as they scrambled to figure out how to prevent a similar incident in their communities. Many asked: Could better design and construction of schools—preschool, elementary, and secondary—prevent or at least mitigate the casualty rate at another Sandy Hook? And could this be done not only for schools to be built in the future, where Building Teams would be working from a blank slate, but for the tens of thousands of extant schools from Maine to Hawaii, where physical conditions are often literally set in stone?
TOP K-12 SCHOOL SECTOR ARCHITECTURE FIRMS
2012 K-12 Revenue ($)1 DLR Group $38,250,0002 SHW Group $32,328,8433 PBK $31,760,0004 IBI Group $27,977,8605 HMC Architects $25,407,1646 Stantec $21,586,2097 Fanning/Howey Associates $20,247,0008 Perkins+Will $19,938,2119 Heery International $16,561,30310 LPA $14,438,017
TOP K-12 SCHOOL SECTOR ENGINEERING FIRMS
2012 K-12 Revenue ($)1 AECOM Technology Corp. $100,150,0002 URS Corp. $55,927,7783 STV $45,937,0004 Jacobs Engineering Group $36,550,0005 Parsons Brinckerhoff $19,100,0006 TTG $9,985,3007 Shive-Hattery $7,379,4258 BRPH $4,900,0009 KCI Technologies $4,200,00010 Dewberry $3,852,971
TOP K-12 SCHOOL SECTOR CONSTRUCTION FIRMS
2012 K-12 Revenue ($)1 Gilbane $947,077,0002 Balfour Beatty $483,944,4763 Turner Corporation, The $357,910,0004 CORE Construction Group $284,198,3755 Skanska USA $273,418,3516 McCarthy Holdings $260,000,0007 Kraus-Anderson Construction $211,000,0008 JE Dunn Construction $169,860,4369 Consigli Construction $148,883,46810 Barton Malow $139,236,049
These questions inspired a gathering of public officials, school designers and contractors, safety experts, and facility directors convened last February in Washington, D.C., by the Council of Educational Facilities Planners International. The daylong CEFPI Security Summit provided a framework in which to consider what school districts can do to provide a safer environment for children, teachers, and administrative staff. Following are the recommendations of immediate interest to the design and construction community.
Infrastructure needs beefing up, says CEFPI report
Emergency preparedness and response must be woven into the very fabric of school life, according to the CEFPI Security Summit report. The report recommends creating “concentric circles of protection” through the following means:
- Providing the ability to lock students behind doors to protect them from aggression (door hardware companies report that they cannot keep up with demand for lock systems since Sandy Hook)
- Shielding students from large windows
- Safeguarding children when they meet in large groups for meals and assemblies
- Installing high-security keying systems with control measures in place for master keys
- Securing children, teachers, and staff via secured vestibules and remote access to select exterior and interior doors (through keyless entry systems)
- Eliminating access to unauthorized persons by improving line-of-sight conditions and installing CCTV cameras
- Protecting entrances through the use of bollards and safeguarding the exterior and perimeter—including playgrounds, athletic fields, and parking lots—via upgraded lighting and camera monitoring
Mass notifiation high on school districts' agenda
The CEFPI report also recommends action on crisis communications, notably:
- Providing an effective public address system, with a backup power source
- Use of multiple communications devices, including mobile panic devices worn by key administrators
- Installation of security cameras and use of emergency radio channels
School districts are already acting. Plainfield District 202, the fourth-largest school district in Illinois, just ordered $180,000 worth of wireless alarm systems for its 30 schools.
As the fall term approaches, design and construction firms, as well as manufacturers of safety products and systems, will be called upon to safeguard the nation’s schoolchildren even more vigorously than in the past.
Read BD+C's full Giants 300 Report
Related Stories
| Apr 9, 2014
Gregory Hodkinson appointed head of Arup Group
Hodkinson has spent his professional career at Arup and brings more than 40 years' experience in large-scale projects to the new role, including several in the US and Canada.
| Apr 9, 2014
5 important trends shaping today’s hotel construction market
AEC firms, developers, and investors worldwide are bullish on hotels. Our hospitality Giants share what’s new in this fast-morphing sector.
| Apr 9, 2014
Steel decks: 11 tips for their proper use | BD+C
Building Teams have been using steel decks with proven success for 75 years. Building Design+Construction consulted with technical experts from the Steel Deck Institute and the deck manufacturing industry for their advice on how best to use steel decking.
| Apr 8, 2014
Gehry, Foster unveil plans for Battersea Power Station redevelopment [slideshow]
Phase 3 of the massive redevelopment of the London landmark will include more than 1,300 residential units, a 160-room hotel, and 350,000 sf of retail space.
| Apr 8, 2014
Fire resistive curtain wall helps The Kensington meet property line requirements
The majority of fire rated glazing applications occur inside a building to allow occupants to exit the building safely or provide an area of refuge during a fire. But what happens when the threat of fire comes from the outside? This was the case for The Kensington, a mixed-use residential building in Boston.
| Apr 8, 2014
First look: Zaha Hadid reveals design for dreamy sculptural hotel
Hadid's design, which will become the fifth hotel tower in the City of Dreams entertainment hub in Macau, features a latticed exoskeleton enveloping the building's exterior.
| Apr 8, 2014
Understanding value billing vs. conventional billing
Every company is a sum of the value it delivers to its clients. What differs from one company to the next is how that value is delivered and perceived. All too often, it is based solely on the fee you charge.
| Apr 8, 2014
Science, engineering find common ground on the Northeastern University campus [slideshow]
The new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building is designed to maximize potential of serendipitous meetings between researchers.
| Apr 8, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the contractors
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named to the class of 2014, nine make their living as contractors.
| Apr 7, 2014
40 Under 40 winners: Meet the architects
Of the up-and-coming AEC professionals to be named 40 Under 40 winners by the editors of Building Design+Construction, 21 make their living in the architecture profession.