Offsite Modular Construction Builds and Installs 12 New Classrooms for Westlake Academy in 100 Days
Challenge
Westlake Academy began using portable classroom units to accommodate its growing student population. As the buildings began to deteriorate and exceed their useful life, the school administration hoped not only to enhance the educational experience for students but also to improve the work environment for staff, thereby attracting new talent.
Adding to the challenge, due to its high enrollment that required full utilization of instructional space, the district was up against an exceptionally tight timeline. The entire process, including design, demolition, and construction, had to be completed in six months, before the start of a new school year – any solution that took classrooms out of commission during the school year was a dealbreaker. Given these timing challenges, as well as the concerns of safety and campus disruption that accompany a traditional construction approach, the district assumed its only option was bringing in another set of temporary portable-style structures to replace the old ones. Certainly, no site-built approach could demolish and remove the existing units and construct new ones between late June and early August – in fact, traditional construction of such a project could be expected to take a year or longer.
Objective
Once they learned that a permanent, high-quality solution could be delivered within their challenging timeline, Westlake Academy partnered with Offsite Modular Construction to construct, deliver, and install 12 state-of-the-art modern classrooms within about 100 days, ensuring a safe, beautiful, and technologically advanced learning environment for students and staff.
Solution
OMC utilized modular construction techniques to manufacture two brand new permanent 6,400-square-foot modular buildings, each housing six classrooms. The process included innovative design features for safety, durability, environmental sustainability, integrated technology enhancements, and health-oriented construction.
Results
In the span of three installation days, the Westlake Academy campus expanded by nearly 13,000 feet… OMC began construction in its factory in April and students had their first classes in the new buildings in August, significantly faster than any traditional construction method could have delivered a project of this scale. The new classrooms included advanced features like teacher-controlled dimmable LED lighting, natural light windows, separate HVAC systems with HEPA 15 air filtration, and enhanced security measures.
This achievement not only met the school’s immediate needs but also demonstrated the efficiency, quality, and adaptability of modular construction in the education sector. The project set a new benchmark for school construction timelines while receiving rave reviews from the local community, including Westlake Mayor Sean Kilbride, who lauded the beauty and quality of the new structures and said, “We’re quite certain our students will be as happy with the results as we are.”
More from Modular Advantage
Inside the Construction of 355 Sango Court
This year’s winner for Best of Show for Permanent Structures is 355 Sango Court, a 105,818 square foot affordable housing development manufactured by Nampa, Idaho based Autovol. The project team also included Prefab Logic for module design, Nibbi Brothers as the general contractor, Acc U Set Construction as the modular installer, and the overall project design was by David Baker Architects and DCI and Fard.
Aster Place by ROC Modular
Aster Place, a supportive housing building in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, won the Best of Show Award and Honorable Mention for relocatable structures in the social and supportive housing category at this year’s World of Modular conference.
Looking Back at the 2024 World of Modular
On March 18-21, the Modular Building Institute presented its 41st annual
convention and tradeshow, hosted again at the luxurious the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, FL. Nearly 1,500 attendees from around the world gathered to learn, network, and find ways to expand both their businesses and the industry at-large.
Touring Japan’s Offsite Construction Industry: An Interview with James Haas, Offsite Construction Sales Manager for Nichiha
Nichiha USA, a premier provider of building envelope solutions and member of the Modular Building Institute (MBI), recently partnered with MBI for a trip to Japan to visit the Nichiha home office in Nagoya as well as several other offsite manufacturers around the country. Besides learning about different offsite building methodologies and systems, the trip was an excellent chance for both MBI and Nichiha to create closer ties with potential industry partners in Japan.
Modular Multi-family Construction: A Field Study of Energy Code Compliance and Performance through Offsite Prefabrication
Prefabrication in a factory setting may improve the performance of modular buildings compared to traditional site-built buildings. To validate this premise, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) funded a 3-year study from 2020-2023 comparing the energy performance of more than 50 modular and site-built multifamily buildings under construction in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Seattle.
Inflation Comes in Hot to Begin ’24
Last year was a shockingly good one for the U.S. economy, at least relative to expectations. Coming into 2023, the conventional wisdom was that near-term recession was inevitable in America. In the face of belligerent excess inflation (above the Federal Reserve’s 2 percent mandate), monetary policymakers began ratcheting interest rates higher in March 2022. That process continued throughout the balance of the year and into 2023.
A Huge Win for the Modular Construction Industry in Massachusetts
In early February, 2024, the Massachusetts Board of Building Regulations and Standards (BBRS) released its proposed 10th Edition building codes. This draft included several amendments targeting modular construction that would have created an extremely difficult environment for the entire modular industry and could have eliminated the industry entirely in the state.
FEMA Announces Hawaii Housing Plan Using Modular Construction
Utah becomes the second state in the country, following Virginia, to fully adopt ICC/MBI standards 1200 and 1205. MBI will continue to work with leadership in Utah to implement the new program.
Supply and Demand: Solving Canada’s Housing Crisis One Relocatable Housing Unit at a Time
Not only do Moda Modular’s repurposed employee housing solutions cut the emissions related to construction down to nearly zero, but they also keep building materials that are often not biodegradable from slowly decaying in storage facilities.
It’s the classic environmental mantra of reduce, reuse, and recycle, scaled up and applied to building after building.
ICC/MBI Standards 1200 & 1205 Provide Foundation for Utah’s First-Ever State Modular Program
Utah becomes the second state in the country, following Virginia, to fully adopt ICC/MBI standards 1200 and 1205. MBI will continue to work with leadership in Utah to implement the new program.