AMERICAN RENAISSANCE SCHOOL GYMNASIUM

IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN

The site that was chosen for the gymnasium was in the heart of downtown Statesville, NC. When a project is in such a congested, commercial district there has to be special considerations made in order to keep the worksie safe from curious pedestrians as well as other potential problems.

Safety also has to be a large consideration as well. With heavy equipment, deconstruction, debris removal, and the whole site development process there are lots of opporunities to be done to people walking by on the street, to parked vehicles, and other nearby properties.

JL Raper has years of experience in mitigating and minimizing all risks and potential problems that can occur with site development on a downtown lot.

CASTING BEDS REQUIRED

Sometimes the lot that is being built upon is small and restricted. This requires for creative solutions. For this specific job we needed to cast the walls on-site but there were no extra space to build the walls other than the foundation of the building, which didn’t provide enough space for all the walls needed. So we had to build a casting bed.

A casting bed is simply a concrete pad used to build (or cast) the walls on. Once the walls are made and placed the casting bed has to be dug up and hauled off. This solution isn’t ideal but is a far better alternative to other, more expensive options like hauling in large, heavy, concrete walls from another location.

JL Raper has experience with this type of solution and we are experts at grading for casting beds in order to minimize costs as much as possible.

COORDINATED EFFORT

When working in such a confined space one of the major challenges that is encountered is the simple question of how do you get all of the contractors onsite at the same time? The simple, yet complicated to carry out, answer to this is coordination. All the different contractors have to coordinate with each other in order to take turns working on different things on different days. This level of coordination requires professionalism and understanding by all parties involved. JL Raper has been in the industry for a long time and understands this more than most other companies. We understand what needs to be done and when, so we are able to work with other contractors to avoid any unnecessary conflict and make sure that the work continues smoothly and efficiently.

THROUGH THE WOODS

Another feature that is still to be done is the FDC Waterline that will need to be ran through the woods which are located behind the facility, adjacent to the retention pond. The installation of this line will involve creative thinking in order to impact the pre-existing environment as little as possible. When building, things like this can often be overlooked in the early stages of planning and can cause significant problems later if not properly planned for. This is why it is vital to involve a company like us in the planning process. We have done almost everything and seen almost everything. We know what your developed land will need before any structure is to be built.

WATCHING THE WEATHER

During the construction of this project there has been a considerable amount of rainfall which complicates the land development process. Doing grading while raining is not ideal and grading while the ground is saturated after rain is almost impossible. So dealing with the weather is something that a seasoned grading and land development company has to learn to master in order to stay on schedule. We here at JL Raper have grown efficient at dealing with the delays that weather can cause and stay on schedule.