Page 36 —
COLORADO REAL ESTATE JOURNAL
— December 16, 2015-January 5, 2016
Construction, Design & Engineering News
by Jennifer Hayes
Work is slated to start thismonth
on the newest addition to North-
field High School.
Groundbreaking is slated to
start this quarter on the Commons
Building at the newlyopenedhigh
school on the Paul Sandoval Cam-
pus – a 20-acre site at 5500 Central
Park Blvd. in Denver that is part
of a larger regional park and is
located in the Northfield area of
Stapleton.
The 18,950-square-foot building,
slated for completion in August,
will include a warming pantry
and cafeteria aswell as an elevated
stage platform. It will be located
adjacent to 56th Avenue and east
of Central Park Boulevard.
Golden Triangle Construction
was selected for the Commons
Building project. LOA Architec-
ture is the architect of record, in
associationwithH+LArchitecture.
Currently, Northfield High
School includes two buildings
and a sports complex. The Small
Learning Community is a two-
story classroom building with 36
classrooms, including four state-
of-the-art science laboratories, an
engineering laboratory and seven
small breakout rooms, a computer
lab and a library. The gymnasium
building includes the temporary
warming pantry and cafeteria, a
CHSAA-sized gym, weight room,
dance room and physical educa-
tion/athletic locker rooms. The
sports complex features tennis
courts, baseball, softball and soc-
cer fields and an all-purpose track
and field.
Northfield High School is the
first high school that Denver Pub-
lic School’s built in more than 30
years. It also was designed by
LOAArchitecture andH+LArchi-
tecture.
The new high school and park
will share parking and athletic
facilities with Denver Parks and
Recreation.
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LOA Architecture is the architect of record in association with H+L Architecture on the newest addition – the Commons Building – at Northfield High School.
Arrupe Jesuit High School,
a Roman Catholic college pre-
paratory high school serving
economically disadvantaged
students, recently celebrated
the opening of its enlarged and
modernized facility. The RMH
Group served as the project’s
mechanical/electrical engineer
and Portland, Oregon-based
Soderstrom Architects served as
the project’s architect and prime
design consultant.
The centerpiece of the project is
a new, three-story, 17,500-square-
foot addition housing seven tech-
nology-enhanced classrooms,
a new kitchen and cafeteria, a
student activities room, admis-
sions and counseling offices, an
athletic office and a student fit-
ness room.
The renovation portion of the
project features a new student
chapel, three new classrooms,
expanded faculty offices, a new
Corporate Work Study Program
Commons delivering upgraded
office and workspace for staff, a
mock office training area and a
muster room.
As the project’s mechani-
cal engineer, RMH designed
an energy-efficient HVAC sys-
tem that can move surplus heat
around the building to where it
is needed. The RMH-designed
lighting system further reduces
energy consumption with effi-
cient lamps/fixtures and occu-
pancy sensors to automatically
turn off lights when no occu-
pants are detected in a given
space.
“Arrupe Jesuit High School
should be commended for its
mission to deliver a challeng-
ing, innovative and affordable
college preparatory education to
economically disadvantaged stu-
dents,” said Jeff Elsner, PE, RMH
mechanical engineer and man-
ager for the project. “The build-
ing expansion and upgrades will
help serve the school’s growing
student population with addi-
tional space and a more modern
learning environment.”
The school is located at 4343
Utica St. in Denver.
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The centerpiece of the project is a new three-story, 17,500-sf addition.
The Neenan Co. celebrated the
opening of the Colorado Depart-
ment of Transportation’s first
build-to-suit office in more than
30 years.
The firm served as the design-
build partner for the new Region
4 headquarters, a 47,000-square-
foot administrative facility locat-
ed on CDOT’s former site along
Highway 34, at the western gate-
way to Greeley.
The new facility consolidates
several CDOT administrative
offices and includes the Colorado
State Patrol.
The facility was designed and
built toLEEDstandards toensure
sustainability and increased effi-
ciency, allowing CDOT to recruit
and retain top-level employ-
ees, according to Neenan. After
determining the ideal daylight
conditions for the interior space,
Neenan decided on windows
thatwrap around all workspaces,
providing views of the surround-
ing prairie and mountains as a
way to improve occupant pro-
ductivity and satisfaction. Light
fixtures optimize the daylight to
reduce the size of the equipment
and lower equipment costs.
The new headquarters pro-
vides a work environment that
offers both collaborative and
contemplative spaces. This was
accomplished through a rate
of 90 percent open office to 10
percent closed office as well as
a series of collaboration spaces
ranging in size from small to
large, a divisible meeting room
and an interchange space.
The interchange space is an
indoor, nonprogrammed area
that provides CDOT employees
with workspace away from their
desks as well as meeting space, a
common break room area, and a
second exit stairway to encour-
age interdepartmental interaction
and physical activity during the
day.
“The Neenan Co.’s primary
goal for this projectwas todeliver
a building that enhanced theway
theCDOT teamworks,” saidBob
Meserve, senior project manag-
er at The Neenan Co. “We are
proud to have produced a facility
that creates a collaborative work
environment that will serve the
needs of our state.”
Inaddition to the headquarters,
the project also includes a 21,000-
sf maintenance facility in Plat-
teville, completed in April, that
houses associated office space,
regional storeroom and specialty
maintenance needs, as well as an
11,000-sf West Yard traffic facility
used as vehicle storage, a sand
shed and deicer containment
basin.
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