When it comes to protecting K-12 schools and students from earthquakes, tornados, or flooding, many school districts continue to resist mandating the inclusion of safe rooms or storm shelters in new and existing buildings. But that may be changing.
An Illinois law that took effect January 1 requires all new schools to have storm shelters. Illinois joined Alabama as the only states that mandate storm shelters or safe houses in new schools.
Oklahoma, ground zero for deadly tornados, has rejected such mandates for budgetary and political reasons. Governor Mary Fallin has backed a proposal to allow local governments to raise their debt limits if they want to use bonds to fund shelters. (Oklahoma City already requires shelters.) An advocacy group called Take Shelter has been trying to get a petition on the statewide ballot to raise $500 million through franchise taxes to put safe rooms in every school in the state.
Money is main reason why safe houses and storm shelters at schools aren’t more widely accepted. A 2013 article published in the Wall Street Journal estimated that it would cost $1 billion to install safe rooms in the 1,100 Oklahoma public schools that didn’t have them at the time.
Protecting buildings from catastrophic events can quickly erode a district’s general revenue funds. Krisztina Tokes and Mark Hovatter of the Los Angeles United School District have estimated that 21% of the $4.3 billion they said was needed annually for school construction would be allocated for earthquake upgrades.
Most AEC professionals would agree that preventive expenditures are a lot cheaper than rebuilding after a natural disaster hits: just ask anyone in the New York metropolitan area who suffered through Hurricane Sandy, which caused an estimated $50 billion in property damage in late 2012. With so much talk about the possible relationship between climate change and more catastrophic weather events, some ISDs are reconsidering the wisdom of waiting and seeing.
Construction of a safe room at a Wichita, Kan., school. Photo: FEMA
Last November, voters in Carl Junction, Mo., approved a $16.5 million bond issue that will help pay for three storm shelters in the school district.
By the end of its current construction bond financing in 2016, Wichita Public Schools will have safe rooms that can withstand an EF-5 tornado in every attendance center it operates, even though safe rooms aren’t mandatory in Kansas. Julie Hedrick, the district’s Facilities Division Director, says that a safe room can add up to $50/sf to the cost of new construction.
As for existing schools, Hedrick says it’s usually not cost effective to add a safe room as part of a renovation. But she says that, high school wrestling rooms—which usually don’t have windows and pad their walls and floors—have been upgraded to safe rooms relatively inexpensively.
Related Stories
Architects | Apr 2, 2024
AE Works announces strategic acquisition of WTW Architects
AE Works, an award-winning building design and consulting firm is excited to announce that WTW Architects, a national leader in higher education design, has joined the firm.
Office Buildings | Apr 2, 2024
SOM designs pleated façade for Star River Headquarters for optimal daylighting and views
In Guangzhou, China, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has designed the recently completed Star River Headquarters to minimize embodied carbon, reduce energy consumption, and create a healthy work environment. The 48-story tower is located in the business district on Guangzhou’s Pazhou Island.
K-12 Schools | Apr 1, 2024
High school includes YMCA to share facilities and connect with the broader community
In Omaha, Neb., a public high school and a YMCA come together in one facility, connecting the school with the broader community. The 285,000-sf Westview High School, programmed and designed by the team of Perkins&Will and architect of record BCDM Architects, has its own athletic facilities but shares a pool, weight room, and more with the 30,000-sf YMCA.
Market Data | Apr 1, 2024
Nonresidential construction spending dips 1.0% in February, reaches $1.179 trillion
National nonresidential construction spending declined 1.0% in February, according to an Associated Builders and Contractors analysis of data published today by the U.S. Census Bureau. On a seasonally adjusted annualized basis, nonresidential spending totaled $1.179 trillion.
Affordable Housing | Apr 1, 2024
Biden Administration considers ways to influence local housing regulations
The Biden Administration is considering how to spur more affordable housing construction with strategies to influence reform of local housing regulations.
Affordable Housing | Apr 1, 2024
Chicago voters nix ‘mansion tax’ to fund efforts to reduce homelessness
Chicago voters in March rejected a proposed “mansion tax” that would have funded efforts to reduce homelessness in the city.
Standards | Apr 1, 2024
New technical bulletin covers window opening control devices
A new technical bulletin clarifies the definition of a window opening control device (WOCD) to promote greater understanding of the role of WOCDs and provide an understanding of a WOCD’s function.
Adaptive Reuse | Mar 30, 2024
Hotel vs. office: Different challenges in commercial to residential conversions
In the midst of a national housing shortage, developers are examining the viability of commercial to residential conversions as a solution to both problems.
Sustainability | Mar 29, 2024
Demystifying carbon offsets vs direct reductions
Chris Forney, Principal, Brightworks Sustainability, and Rob Atkinson, Senior Project Manager, IA Interior Architects, share the misconceptions about carbon offsets and identify opportunities for realizing a carbon-neutral building portfolio.
Reconstruction & Renovation | Mar 28, 2024
Longwood Gardens reimagines its horticulture experience with 17-acre conservatory
Longwood Gardens announced this week that Longwood Reimagined: A New Garden Experience, the most ambitious revitalization in a century of America’s greatest center for horticultural display, will open to the public on November 22, 2024.