Oliver Street Elementary School

Client: New Jersey Schools Development Authority

Project: Oliver Street Elementary School 

Epic’s Role: Design-Builder 

Construction Costs: $41 million

The new Oliver Street Elementary School is a 136,766 sf design-build project set on a 4.5 acre site in Newark, New Jersey.  The structure is comprised of four sections which vary from single to three stories and features six Pre-Kindergarten classrooms, four Kindergarten classrooms, thirty two general classrooms for grades 1-8, two Art rooms, one Robotics laboratory, three Science laboratories, a Reading room (media center), Gymnasium, Multi-purpose room, Vocal and Music rooms, Cafeteria with full service kitchen, an emergency control room and a backup emergency control room.  There is two elevators with one having two stops and one having four.  

The project site abuts six existing residential dwellings, an existing 4 story masonry building and four perimeter city streets.  The existing building structures on the site were previously demolished and the tank remediation work was completed by others.  Historic fill soil with possible levels of PCB contaminates remained on site.  The existing utilities around the site included a combined sewer system, natural gas, domestic water, high pressure fire water main and overhead power and telecommunications cabling creating the need for constant, proactive coordination with the utility companies, subcontractors, neighbors and local authorities.  

We worked with the local utility companies to verify existing utilities and design new building MEP systems and site work utilities to function with the existing city utility infrastructure.  Due to close proximity of residential properties the consideration of noise from roof top HVAC equipment had to be reviewed and addressed during the design process.

Building Construction Highlights include the following:   

• Due to the poor soil type located at this site the design required a building foundation system with timber piles, pile caps, and grade beams.  1,160 timber piles which were 45 to 50 feet long were driven into the ground.  Due to the timber pile driving operation and its close proximity to existing below grade utilities, residential properties, and the four story masonry building a full vibration monitoring firm was utilized to monitor below grade vibrations
• Pile caps and grade beams where utilized as the concrete foundation system after the timber piles were driven
• A sub-slab Vapor Intrusion (VI) mitigation system consisting of a clean stone, suction pits with pipe risers extending above the roof, monitoring portals, and a spray applied liquid boot membrane system was installed directly below the building slab on grade.  The installation of the liquid boot membrane system was verified to be air tight by conducting various smoke tests during the systems installation and prior to concrete placement of the slab on grade
• The building first floor slab on grade consisted of a 9 inch structural slab with a top and bottom rebar mat
• The building structure was comprised of structural steel and metal decking structure with concrete composite deck slabs
• The shell of the building consists primary of concrete masonry units and a small section which utilizes cold formed metal framing.  The veneer of the building consists of 11 different block types which were utilized to create different veneer patterns at various building elevations
• Interior partitions consist primarily of concrete masonry units throughout the building with the exception of the Main Office Suite, Nurses Suite, Child Study Team Suite, and the Reading Room. The interior partition walls in these areas consist of light gauge metal stud framing with gypsum board sheathing.
• Interior floor finishes include VCT, sheet vinyl, carpet, poured in-place urethane, broadcast epoxy, ceramic tile, and wood flooring.  The Owner has chosen to utilize broadcast epoxy flooring at toilet rooms, locker rooms, kitchen, and all high traffic areas including corridors and stair towers
• HVAC system is comprised of a 4 pipe hydronic hot and chilled water HVAC system for the majority of the building and numerous split systems at dedicated essential rooms such as IDF’s, MDF, and emergency control rooms.  A dedicate fan coil unit serves each individual classroom while VAV boxes are utilized at areas such as the office suite, back of house areas, and vocal and music rooms.  The Gymnasium and Multi-purpose rooms have individual roof top units
• Should the primary power to the building be shut down an emergency generator is available for use for a limited amount of systems in the building
• There is a wet sprinkler system throughout the entire building with dedicated pre-actions systems in the individual MDF and IDF rooms
• The Owner established areas which were labeled as “Safe Havens.”  At the Owner’s direction we installed bullet resistant glazing at interior doors of rooms labeled as “Safe Havens”