Students benefit when community members from all walks of life participate in the educational process. But that same broad participation can be detrimental when it comes to designing and constructing multimillion-dollar facilities.
Take charter schools. Created to offer families educational choice, unique curricula, or higher standards, charters are publicly funded but governed by their own private boards rather than the publicly elected school board. Therefore, charters do not draw on the school district’s administrative resources and, thus, are on their own when building or expanding facilities.
That responsibility comes with increased flexibility. Charter school boards typically face less bureaucracy, less formal process and less competition for limited funding, and many have found a perfect solution in Haskell’s Design-Build method of project delivery.
“For those clients who ’don’t have a deep bench of resources or assets, it’s essential for them to rely on one person to guide them through the process,” said Charlie Rocheleau, Haskell’s Education Division Leader.
Through an integrated delivery strategy, Haskell can handle everything from the real estate acquisition to the final product, a process that comprises site design, permitting, architecture, engineering and general construction.
“One of the things we offer, which helps, is that we have everything in house — all the design and all the construction capabilities,” Rocheleau said. “It really reduces how much coordination the charter school has to do because they can just contact one person, our project lead.”
Not only does Haskell simplify the process, but it also augments and streamlines it using Progressive Design-Build collaboration between construction and design professionals from the developmental stage forward allows Haskell manage expenditures and ensure that project delivery is on time and in budget.
Tiger Academy, a YMCA charter school in Jacksonville, Florida, is a perfect example. Haskell performed design, construction, interior design, furnishing and site work for a 32,650-square-foot, 6.6-acre campus, working closely with school leaders with no experience in school construction.
“There was no other choice for us but Haskell, because of the ability to do it all, to deal with one company doing everything from the sale of the property to full construction of the building and complete follow up,” said Susan Golden, former Tiger Academy executive director of Tiger Academy. “Having an education division, unlike a lot of construction companies, Haskell has had a lot of experience in dealing with educational situations and construction pieces. It is truly the easiest way because you’re dealing with one large company that has every component that you need in educational construction.”
Public schools and universities can reap the same rewards. Haskell applied its collaborative design-build approach to renovate Astronaut High School, a public school in Titusville, Florida and to Osprey Fountains, an expansive residence hall at the University of North Florida.
“Haskell took the lead and fostered a healthy partnership with our UNF team,” said Paul Riel, the Director of Housing and Residence Life at the university. “We felt mentored through the process and utilized Haskell’s vast experience of design-build techniques to improve the overall design and functioning of the complex.”
The charter school market, however, has proven to be an especially good fit for Haskell’s integrated delivery method, and growth is on the company’s roadmap.
In the past, charter school clients were primarily independent non-profit groups founding a single school. While independent groups are still present, larger charter organizations are now developing national networks of charter schools.
As they continue to design and build local charter schools in Florida, Rocheleau and Haskell are well-equipped to facilitate the progression of the market. Leveraging a full range of architectural, engineering and construction services, they can accommodate larger organizations by offering a high standard of consistency across state lines.
Haskell is licensed to provide design and construction services in all 50 states, which is an asset to national charter organizations, even if it’s by taking a collaborative approach to preexisting relationships.
For example, if a charter organization has a preferred architect that is only licensed in Texas, but wants it to be involved in other states, Haskell can contribute a licensed professional to the team. Collaboration then allows the charter organization to keep any design features that are distinctive or important to its brand as a whole intact. In this regard, Haskell’s flexibility is uniquely valuable.
“That’s how we’re set up,” Rocheleau said.
The principle of consistency applies to not only the design side of projects but also to the construction side. Haskell can devote a team to a project in Florida, then subsequently assign that same team to replicate the experience elsewhere.
“Let’s say you are a charter school organization ’that’s trying to build six schools this year,” Rocheleau said. “Would it be easier for you to coordinate with six architects and six contractors, or just one? Provided (the one) gave you the same great service and relatively the same team, would there be value in that?”
With its scale, expertise and client-centered, collaborative approach to delivering projects of the highest quality, Haskell is uniquely positioned to have it’s clients answer a resounding, “Yes.”
