Fire Safety at Wendell E. Green Elementary School

We were selected by the Chicago Public Schools to design and install a Return Air Duct System for the Wendell E. Green Elementary School (“Home of the Tigers”), a preK-8 public school located on Chicago’s South Side with an enrollment of 350+ students. 

The plan was to run the new ductwork above the existing dropped (lay-in) ceiling. But a field inspection to document any possible interferences uncovered a major flaw in the 50,000 square foot building’s construction: The walls of the classrooms weren’t built up to meet the underside of the floor above, but only rose to the level of the lay-in ceiling. This presented a potentially dangerous fire hazard in that there was no separation between the classrooms.

Our team got busy and designed wall extensions along with fire safing and fire/smoke dampers required for all the existing conduits, pipes and the new ductwork penetrating these wall extensions. This extensive project, at $3.5 million, took a little over two years to complete, with minimal disruption to students’ classroom learning.

Energy Efficiency at Haugan Elementary School

Originally built in 1910, Helge A. Haugan Elementary School, a public preK-8 school on Chicago’s Northwest Side, has been educating Chicago’s children for more than 110 years. As one of the oldest elementary school buildings in the city of Chicago, it currently has nearly 900 students enrolled. 

When the Chicago Public School System initiated a $6.5 million renovation of the building’s aged systems, we were proud to be selected to provide mechanical, electrical engineering, and plumbing engineering services and upgrade the school’s energy efficiency. Our team provided a design to replace the entire building’s existing lighting with the new LED fixtures. We also revised a once-thru air-handling system into a code-compliant return-air system, replaced all existing steam heating coils with the new including valves, upgraded existing steam reheat boxes with new ones, and provided air handling motorized dampers and a new return area fan. 

The project included replacing all exhaust fans and putting in a new DDC Building Automation System for the HVAC system that replaced the less efficient, existing pneumatic controls. 

A More Efficient Heating System for Bateman Elementary School

Newton Bateman Elementary School, a preK-8 school on the city’s North Side, was originally built in 1921 and today has about 1,000 students enrolled. When the Chicago Public School System initiated a complete overhaul of the aging building’s heating system, we were proud to be selected to provide mechanical, electrical engineering, and plumbing engineering services. 

Our team led the project to demolish the school’s antiquated steam system and replace it with a much more efficient, hot-water heating system.

The 2-year, $4.5 million project also included revising a once-thru air-handling system into a code-compliant return-air system; replacing all air heating coils; and providing air-handling dampers and a new return-air fan. Our team also replaced all exhaust fans and building lighting; extended the fire alarm system; and put in a new Building Automation System to control the HVAC.