The New Building – What’s Up?

It has been a long, hot summer and much progress has been made on the building – even if it may not look like it! So what exactly has been going on since school ended in June?

There have been five major projects completed in the past ten weeks. 

Retaining wall



Because of the slope of the site, a retaining wall was constructed to help level the site and provide an access area to the lower level of the building. When looking at the site from Founders Hall, the retaining wall may look insignificant, but from the opposing view, the size of the project becomes clear. At its highest, the wall is about 20 feet and this area will ultimately be protected with fencing. A friendly reminder, this area is strictly off-limits to anyone except the contractors and project managers.

Stormwater Detention System

The retaining wall not only allowed us to level the site but also hides a stormwater detention system. This is a system of large pipes – approximately five feet in diameter – that are buried near the bottom of the wall and connected to the storm drains. These pipes act as tanks to store the stormwater and run in two rows along the whole length of the site.

They can hold thousands of gallons of rainwater. They allow the storm sewer to drain the site quickly and efficiently and then release the stormwater in a controlled manner back into the environment. This is a best management practice for runoff. The outlet for the detention system is at the bottom of the retaining wall.

Moving, Drying (and Removing) Dirt



Even casual observers of the site may have noticed that there was a lot of dirt that was dug up and moved around – multiple times. One thing we discovered during the dig is that the area underneath the location of the old third, fourth, and fifth-grade trailers (previously opposite Founders Hall) was a valley running down into the woods. This valley had been filled with the garbage and detritus from the old Larus estate including plenty of organic matter such as dead trees. Not surprisingly, it is not a good idea to build a large building on top of a garbage dump. As the organic matter decomposes, it creates holes that may collapse and undermine the foundations of the building. Not a good plan! Much of this part of the site not only had to be dug out to make way for the stormwater detention system and the building itself but also the dirt had to be “cleaned” to remove all the organic matter so it would be suitable to support the new building foundations.

In addition, because of all the rain, the dirt had to be spread out and dried before being replaced and compacted. Properly compacted dirt will help to prevent settlement under the parking areas and the building itself.

Utilities

Utilities are also an important component of the building construction project. For this site, we have been concerned with water lines, sanitary sewer lines, and fiber-optic lines. The water lines provide potable water and also feed our fire protection systems. The sanitary sewer lines take waste from our campus into the public treatment system. Finally, the fiber optic lines afford phone and internet service.

Water lines needed to be relocated away from our new building footprint. This work involved installing new lines and then completing taps, where the new lines connect to the old lines on each end. Water quality testing was also accomplished before calling this work item “complete.” As this work required some brief outages to our water supply, we are excited that it could be completed while students were away from campus.

Similarly, sanitary sewer lines needed to be relocated away from our new building footprint. This involved installing a new line connecting between manholes. The sanitary sewer system is deep in the ground and relies on gravity.

There will be additional water and sanitary sewer lines installed later during the construction as the building is connected to these main lines. At this time, the field house will be reconnected. 

Comcast is our current vendor for telecommunications. Their lines also needed to be relocated out of the project footprint. This was done on a temporary basis at the beginning of the project but additional boring, and a more permanent relocation was completed this summer.

Site Drainage / Stormwater System



There is also a network of underground concrete pipes and structures being installed to manage the stormwater. This drainage system helps move the rainwater away from the building and pavements and into the detention system. Of course, this system is totally separate from the sanitary sewer system as the (un)sanitary water is not allowed to mix with the stormwater and pollute the environment. When complete, the stormwater system will only be visible on the surface with access manholes, drop inlets, and curb and gutter in the parking lot. 

What’s next?

The site itself is in the final stages of preparation, leveling, and compaction before the contractors start their work on the concrete foundations and building pad. We expect this to begin in the next few weeks, and once the foundations and pad are complete the building will start to rise out of the ground. We will also begin to see the new parking lot taking shape between the building site and the field house.

We look forward to providing additional updates as the building progresses!

Thank you to Dan Daglish, member of the Sabot at Stony Point Board of Directors, for providing the photographs and update.