This $89 million project included a new 382,784 square foot high school for 2,500 students in Pflugerville, Texas. Weiss High School was designed to offer a variety of opportunities, including CTE programs, for the attending students. It also includes multiple labs and classroom spaces for pre-engineering, business, tech, biomedical, and health science studies. There is athletics wing, as well as a fine arts wings, which includes an auditorium. This project also includes space for future programs that will be available include ROTC and an auto tech program. The engineering designed the following:
• Air conditioning system combining earth-coupled water source heat pumps for classroom, science labs & office areas and DX with gas heat rooftop units for all other areas
• Outside air pre-treated using DX heat recovery units incorporating total energy wheels
• Plumbing systems containing low flow water closets, waterless urinals and low flow lavatories to conserve water and ensure sanitation
• Electrical systems including lighting and power distribution and sports lighting. Special systems consisting of cable TV, public address system, and fire alarm system along with rough-in for data and communications
Project Title: Weiss High School
Project Location: Pflugerville, Texas
Owner: Pflugerville Independent School District
Project Size: 382,784 SF
Total Project Cost: $89,616,000
Architect: PBK Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing
Lake Travis ISD Bee Cave Middle School is a newly constructed 240,000 square foot facility located in Austin, Texas. This $67.7 million school, designed by Fields & Associates Architects, was opened to its inaugural class of students in August 2019. With a window encased rotunda at its center, Bee Caves Middle School has an arts wing with a band hall, practice rooms, dance studio, as well as a multipurpose auditorium/cafeteria. The athletics department offers a competition gym, weight room, a football field alongside a practice field, as well as tennis courts. There are common areas throughout the school designed for collaborative group work or solitary studying. For the HVAC systems, the engineers designed 350-tons of geothermal ground-source heat pumps for classroom areas, and 280-tons of chilled water units for common areas and ventilation systems. Efficient LED lighting was designed and installed throughout the school.
Project Title: Bee Cave Middle School
Project Location: Austin, Texas
Owner: Lake Travis Independent School District
Project Size: 240,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $67,797,000
Architect: Fields & Associates Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, & Geothermal Engineering
This newly constructed elementary school, includes 52 classrooms, art room, computer lab, music, special-ed rooms, and administrative areas. Common areas include common teaching areas, gymnasium, cafeteria, library/resource center, and kitchen. This project also includes a stand alone central plant sized to provide chilled water to both the elementary school and a future middle school.
HVAC for classroom areas is provided by rooftop multi-zone air handling units, equipped with total energy recovery wheels, chilled water coils, and gas-fired furnaces. Packaged DX rooftop units serve most common areas. Dedicated outside air to common areas is provided by a heat recovery unit equipped with total energy recovery wheels and chilled water cooling coils. Phase 1 of the stand-alone central plant featured two 295-ton high efficiency magnetic bearing, oil-free water-cooled centrifugal chillers and cross-flow, induced draft cooling towers. DDC controls provide for operation of all HVAC and lighting systems and are integrated with the district’s central energy management system.
Electrical systems include lighting and power distribution systems for 480/277 volt service and rough-in for data and communications. Design of new exterior site security and parking lot lighting was also included.
This project was designed to achieve a LEED Gold Rating.
Project Title: Elsa England Elementary School
Project Location: Austin, Texas
Owner: Round Rock Independent School District
Project Size: 117,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $24,000,000
Architect: BLGY Architecture
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering & LEED Administration
Sustainability Goal: Designed for LEED Gold
This project included a new $27.4 million middle school in Von Ormy, Texas. Resnik Middle School is a two-story, 170,000 square foot building features a stand alone athletics and fine arts building, cafeteria, library, stage, and administration area. The athletic amenities include a practice field, a football stadium, and two gymnasiums. The school is built in a rural area, which created an added challenging for project design for the team, who would need to establish new utility services in a remote location.
The M|E|P engineers were responsible for the HVAC systems design, including a combination of rooftop DX units with gas heat and 100% outside air DX units. Plumbing systems contained electronic sensors on water closets, urinals, and lavatories to conserve water and ensure sanitation. Electrical systems included classrooms, LED common area lighting, power distribution, cable tray systems for all data and communication systems, as well as fire alarm systems.
Project Title: Resnik Middle School
Project Location: Von Ormy, Texas
Owner: Southwest Independent School District
Project Size: 170,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $27,400,000
Architect: Pfluger & Associates Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering
Newton Collins Elementary School, Del Valle ISD’s ninth elementary school, opened its doors in August of 2018. The land where the school is located was purchased by the school’s namesake, Newton Isaac Collins Sr., a freed slave, more a century ago. The facility was designed to be representative of the surrounding land of McKinney Falls State Park. It includes limestone and wood, as well as rippling textures to represent water. This school, attended by Pre-K through fifth grade, is divided into neighborhoods which offer common areas outside of the classrooms. These spaces are often used for science labs or computer stations. The facility also includes a library, cafetorium, and gymnasium.
Project Title: Newton Collins Elementary School
Project Location: Austin, Texas
Owner: Del Valle Independent School District
Project Size: 99,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $19,647,641
Architect: O’Connell Robertson
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing
This unique project is an adaptive reuse of a former industrial manufacturing facility in North Austin. The school includes 52 standard classrooms, seven specialty classrooms, cafeteria, kitchen, library, and administrative areas. High efficiency, variable speed chilled water HVAC units, low flow plumbing fixtures, and high efficiency LED lighting in select areas all contribute to the sustainable character of this building.
This building is equipped with an elevated, roof-mounted, grid-connected, 245 kW photovoltaic array. Circular Energy partnered together with the engineering team on this project to develop an initial feasibility study for Austin ISD, allowing the district to identify an optimal PV solution for its renewable energy goals. The engineering team designed the AC equipment and integration of the PV system to the building power distribution system. Additionally, the team coordinated the technical service requirements with Austin Energy, the serving electric utility. Circular Energy developed the PV panel layout and panel specifications, and cooperatively designed the DC power design with the engineering team.
This project was designed to achieve a LEED Gold rating and has achieved a four-star Austin Energy Green Building Program rating.
Project Title: Jaime D. Padron Elementary School
Project Location: Austin, Texas
Owner: Austin Independent School District
Project Size: 143,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $20,724,000
Architect: Architecture Plus & Heimsath Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering & LEED Administration
Sustainability Goal: Awarded LEED Gold
This $60 million project includes a new 430,000 square foot high school for 3,000 students in Southwest ISD. Legacy High School was part of a master plan to provide for the potential needs of the growing district by allowing for future additions in both the capacity of the floor plan, as well as the M|E|P systems. A unique open corridor, which spans the length of the school, creates an open concept floor plan with adjoining work spaces designed so students can easily work in groups large or small. The engineering team provided the following:
• Combination of rooftop DX units with gas heat and chilled water outside air pretreatment units with enthalpy heat wheels and supplemental DX cooling.
• All classrooms were supplied with minimum 15 CFM of outside air per student to comply with the latest ASHRAE recommendations for indoor air quality.
• Plumbing systems contained electronic sensors on water closets, urinals and lavatories to conserve water and ensure sanitation.
• Electrical systems included classroom, LED common area lighting, athletic field lighting (football stadium, baseball, softball and tennis), power distribution, cable tray systems for all data and communication systems and fire alarm systems.
• Unique HVAC systems included athletic dehumidification units, 100% outside air systems, welding exhaust systems, shop compressed air systems and laboratory fume hood exhaust systems.
Project Title: Legacy High School
Project Location: Von Ormy, Texas
Owner: Southwest Independent School District
Project Size: 430,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $60,000,000
Architect: Pfluger & Associates Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, & Plumbing Engineering
This project included a new $50 million middle school in Spicewood, Texas. This two-story 221,000 square foot building features an open central rotunda, cafeteria, library, stage, and administration area. The athletic amenities include four tennis courts, a practice field, a football stadium, a track, and two gymnasiums. The school is built into an extremely sloped elevation, creating a challenging project design for the team. The engineering team was responsible for the HVAC systems design, including ultra high-efficiency ground-coupled, geothermal heat pumps serving all classroom/teaching areas. Also designed and specified by the team were all aspects of the geothermal well field and heat pump piping located onsite as well as the first generation LED lighting system, football field lighting, and the design of a rainwater collection system.
Project Title: Lake Travis Middle School
Project Location: Spicewood, Texas
Owner: Lake Travis Independence School District
Project Size: 221,000 SF
Total Project Cost: $50,000,000
Architect: Fields & Associates Architects
Services Provided: Mechanical, Electrical, Plumbing, & Geothermal Engineering
