High-Profile: September 2026 | Page 20

20 High-Profile Focus: Schools and Institutions

September 2026

www. high-profile. com

By Henry Quinlan

A school building is more than the classrooms, corridors, and common spaces within its walls. It influences how students learn, how teachers teach, and how a community connects. As educational models continue to evolve, the buildings that support them must evolve as well.

For contractors, that creates a unique challenge. School construction requires more than delivering a project on time and on budget. It requires careful planning around students and staff, a strong understanding of safety and accessibility, close coordination with school leadership, and the ability to execute complex work without unnecessarily disrupting the learning environment.

At South Coast Improvement Company( SCIC), these considerations shape our approach to educational construction from preconstruction through project closeout.

The new Athletics Building at Hamilton- Wenham Regional High School.

Building Around the Way Students Learn

Today’ s educational facilities are expected to support many different learning styles within a single building. Traditional classrooms remain important, but schools increasingly incorporate collaborative areas, technology-enabled spaces, laboratories, media centers, flexible classrooms, and specialized environments for hands-on learning.

The result is a building that must accommodate quiet concentration one moment and group collaboration the next.

Flexibility is especially important because educational needs rarely remain static. A room designed for one curriculum today may need to support a different program several years from now. Movable furnishings, adaptable layouts, multi-use spaces, and infrastructure that can support changing technology

Above and below: Before and after photos of the East Wareham School. Preconstruction services helped uncover unforeseen conditions early, providing greater clarity and reducing risk throughout the project.

help schools respond without requiring significant renovations every time educational priorities change.

For the construction team, understanding how these spaces will actually be used is critical. The objective is not simply to build what appears on the plans, but to understand the intent behind the design and coordinate the details necessary to make that environment function successfully for students, educators, and staff.

Safety Comes First

Safety is fundamental on every construction project, but an active school environment raises the stakes considerably.

When renovation work occurs while a school remains operational, construction activities must be carefully separated from students, faculty, visitors, and dayto-day operations. Construction zones, deliveries, temporary access routes, noise, dust, and debris must all be considered as part of the overall project plan.

Successful occupied renovation often depends on phasing. Rather than approaching a school as one continuous construction site, work can be divided into controlled areas and scheduled around the academic calendar. Summer recess, school vacations, weekends, and after-hours periods can provide important opportunities to complete more disruptive portions of the work.

Temporary barriers and clearly defined construction zones can further separate ongoing operations from active work areas, while careful logistics planning helps maintain safe paths of travel throughout the facility.

The goal is straightforward: construction should never become an unnecessary obstacle to education.

Communication Is a Construction Tool

On an occupied school project, communication can be just as important as the physical work.

School administrators and facilities teams need to know what is happening, where it is happening, and how it may affect the building. A delivery, shutdown, or change in access that would be routine on an unoccupied construction site can have a significant impact when hundreds of students and staff are moving through a facility.

For that reason, coordination should begin well before mobilization.

Project teams can plan around testing periods, special events, athletic schedules, vacations, and other important dates. Potential disruptions can be identified in advance, and school leadership can communicate necessary information to faculty, families, and students.

Regular coordination throughout construction allows the team to adapt as conditions change while keeping everyone working toward the same objective.

Planning Before Construction Begins

Many of the decisions that determine whether a school project will run smoothly happen before the first trade arrives on site.

Preconstruction provides an opportunity to evaluate existing conditions, identify logistical challenges, establish phasing plans, and develop realistic schedules and budgets. It is also the time to review accessibility, life safety, procurement requirements, and potential long-lead items.

Existing school buildings can present additional challenges. Older facilities may contain conditions that cannot be fully understood until work begins. Careful investigation and early coordination help reduce those unknowns and give the project team a clearer strategy for addressing them when they arise.

At SCIC, our single-source approach brings preconstruction, design-build, construction management, and general contracting capabilities together. For institutional clients, having one construction partner involved throughout the process can help create clearer accountability, reduce communication gaps, and improve continuity from early planning through completion.

Innovative upgrades to administrative suite & labs at Massachusetts Maritime Academy.

Experience in Occupied Environments

One of the most valuable skills a contractor can bring to educational work is experience completing construction around people.

SCIC has built its business around work in demanding occupied environments, including senior living, healthcare, education, hospitality, affordable housing, retail, office, and historic properties.

While these sectors are different, the underlying construction challenges often overlap.

A senior living community cannot simply stop operating because renovations are underway. Neither can a healthcare facility. Both require careful phasing, protected work areas, detailed logistics,