After months of preparation and planning, the John Champe Library ceased all operations in late February as they were preparing to relocate the Library and Office/Counseling areas.
This change was not at short notice though, as this plan has been in the works for the last couple of years. On May 14th, 2019, the Loudoun County School Board’s Finance and Facilities committee had a meeting in Ashburn. This resulted in the recommendation of the School Board to approve the award of the Construction Manager at Risk (CMaR) to Turner Construction Company. The CMaR ensures the project, which had the main goal of completing multiple entry office modifications like the ones currently happening at Champe, would be completed within a guaranteed price and in a timely fashion. A few months later, the agreement was terminated due to Turner Construction constantly requesting contract changes that the county couldn’t deal with.
“On Tuesday, November 26, 2019, Turner Construction Company would not sign the Part 2 – Construction Phase Services agreement as presented. Turner Construction Company previously requested numerous changes to the agreement,” it stated in a transcript of a January 2020 school board meeting. “LCPS cannot allow substantial contract changes because these are the terms upon which the other proposers based their proposals.”
During the January 2020 School Board meeting, the School Board was able to present the award to the second contractor on the list of contractors bidding for the job: Gilbane Building Company. Gilbane, the new CMaR, oversaw the entry modifications at the nine high schools that would require the renovations. These schools included Stone Bridge, Dominion, Potomac Falls, Freedom, John Champe, Heritage, Briar Woods, Tuscarora, and Woodgrove High School. The anticipated completion date for the entry office modification at nine high schools was expected for August 2023, but COVID-19 was right around the corner. As the pandemic shut schools down, construction delays inevitably happened.
“As of the date of this Guaranteed Maximum Price proposal, Gilbane Building Company is unable to assess the impact of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and how it may affect the Construction Schedule and Project cost long-term,” Gilbane said in one of their proposals. “In light of the wide-ranging and potentially long-lasting effects posed by the COVID-19 pandemic […] Gilbane reserves its right to assess such impact [of the pandemic] on an ongoing basis.”
Schools closed in March, 2020 and the priority for educators and administrators became figuring out how to effectively work distance learning. Entry modifications weren’t that big of an issue due to kids not physically being in school. Slowly, the schools started to reopen. Students were coming back to school as the pandemic faded away. On October 4, 2022, a Finance and Operations meeting was held by the School Board. There was a discussion about the critical need for these security projects, such as the entry modifications. Safety and security are the two main reasons for these entrance modifications. Currently, the visitor entrance procedure to enter Champe is heavily insecure. Once someone enters the building using their ID, they have unrestricted access to the rest of the school without having to go through any sign-in procedure until they get to the main office. If a visitor had malicious intent, it would be much easier for them to carry them out in the current setup. The current floor plan is being changed to make the building more secure.
“For security reasons, new schools are built with the main office at the front door of the school, and visitors are required to go through the main office during the school day to access the rest of the school,” Instructional Facilitator Jeffrey Horvath said. “Older schools across the county are being retrofitted to this floorplan. Champe and Freedom are the last two high schools to have this construction done.”
However, this renovation doesn’t come at a cheap price. The price tag that was provided by Gilbane on November 3, 2023, came in at around $13.8 million for both Freedom and John Champe’s entry modifications, excluding labor costs. John Champe’s share of that is close to $7 million. Some may find this amount astonishing due to how simple the project may look at face value. Most assume that the renovation is just “moving things around”, but it’s much more complicated than it looks. Walls have to be torn down, construction messes have to be cleaned up and hauled away, and tons of material have to be brought in, all while leaving a minimal footprint and making sure everything is close to completion before the next school year starts. Labor is also a significant part of the costs, such as both sites needing to have project managers to make sure everything is on track. The three most expensive costs of Champe’s $7 million renovation and relocation come from Electrical Units ($2,191,266), Plumbing/Mechanical ($1,674,817), and Drywall & Ceilings ($1,053,100).
“I wasn’t expecting it to be that much,” English Teacher Jessica Spencer said, “but it makes sense when you actually think about it. I can’t wait to see what it looks like.”
It has been a couple of years since the school board meeting in January, 2020 where an estimated completion date of August, 2023 was provided, but construction is finally ready to happen in the upcoming weeks of March. This change will be carried out in multiple phases, and the library won’t look identical to the way it was before. The construction will start with work being done to the new front office area, which was formerly the library. Over the summer, the main office/counseling offices will be moved to the new front office area as well. Additionally, work on the new library will start during the summer too. Interesting additions are being made to the new library, such as a tech support service counter and a dedicated video/podcasting studio. Gilbane has provided a floor plan that gives us an overview of the new main office and library.
“You will see plastic floor and wall coverings in the main hallway and adjacent areas to keep the dust contained and protect the finishes. Crews will work at night and weekends while classes are in session,” Horvath said. “We expect that the new library will be ready to open sometime in October.”
