Modular for Schools

For education institutions, the need for space can occur at a moment’s notice.  With large amounts of new students coming in and out, classrooms and office space are often needed to accommodate the growth.  However, for many districts, it may be difficult to address this problem because the school cannot function as an education facility and construction site at the same time. Loud construction and hazardous areas do not  foster an ideal environment to learn.  Since it’s tough to make a classroom appear out of thin air, many of these problems go unresolved, and school overcrowding is the result.  To combat these problems, school districts do not have many options.  They may finance a new school facility, hoping that the growth in students stays on a consistent pace, but that would be a risky investment that will take a while to materialize and be tough to afford.  They could add on to the existing school building, but as we mentioned before, the school would probably have to be out for summer in order to get any major changes done. Plus, if the project runs behind schedule, the construction crew would be rushed to finish the work, which could lead to poor craftsmanship and careless mistakes. So, many districts find themselves stuck between a rock and a hard place.  They need to provide their students with a better environment to learn, without disrupting their current environment, while staying within the confines of their budget.  However, there is a final option that takes into account the time constraint, the site disruption, and the affordability of the project, modular construction. Modular construction provides these school districts with classroom and office space that perfectly fits into their scope.  With the building itself being manufactured in a factory-like environment, all that is left is the installation at the actual construction site.  This means there will absolutely minimal site disruption with far less large machinery and safety hazards.  Plus, since the site will be prepped while the building is being made, the entire project will be finished in a fraction of the time of stick-built because both of these phases are acting concurrently.  Finally, since the pieces of the modular structure are mass produced, they are produced at a lower cost, allowing for the entire structure to be made in the most efficient manner possible.  Overall, modular construction can potentially solve many of the main problems school systems have with expansion, but let’s look at a few specific examples and scenarios where our modular buildings are really able to shine. 


Classrooms

The main area of concern for school systems with this problem is, of course, classroom space for their students.  No school system wants their classrooms to get to the point to where their students are not individually taken care of.  First, you need enough teachers.  But even after that, you need to supply the room for the children to learn in.  Teachers can be hired within days; however, a classroom cannot be built in days.  With modular construction, a classroom can be put in place in a matter of weeks permanently or temporarily.  This cost effective solution allows school systems to expand quickly and, more importantly, expand the way they need to.  Although modular buildings are constructed in a laboratory, they are still designed to the customer’s exact needs.  Due to our binder-post and panel system, each structure can be designed and constructed to fit any unique area you may need.  Whether you are in need of a class of a dozen kids or ten dozen kids, our building system can adapt to your purpose. 


Office Build Outs

Along with growing classes sizes comes an increase in the faculty that your school will need.  An often-overlooked part of running a school is all the people that are involved, outside of the teachers.  For a functioning school, there will need to be administration workers, receptionists, nurses, librarians, teaching assistants, custodians, cafeteria workers, and security personnel.  For the most part, these positions will have to scale with the number of students the school is currently serving, meaning they are going to need a place to work.  Fitting into your current office structure, our wall panel system can section off your area to allow for more specialized work.  For instance, if you are adding a nurse’s office to help take care of the students, you’re obviously not going to be able to have her in the same area as the receptionist.  If you add in our wall partitioning, you can allow the nurse her own examining room and even waiting area, allowing privacy for both the nurse and the students.  The same rules apply for the majority of the staff.  A closed off, personal office will often create a more calm and controlled work environment, allowing additional concentration on the task at hand.


Guard Booths

Another major point of administrating a school system is ensuring the security and safety of all the people that attend.  As we have talked about in previous blog posts, guard booths provide a physical barrier to entry and a mental one as well.  For example, at a typical high school, a guard booth will act as an access point to the entire facility.  The guard on duty will monitor each vehicle passing in and out of the parking area to ensure they have the proper permit to come through or they are registered on the parent pick-up.  These guard booths are very efficient in catching people trying to unlawfully get onto school grounds.  However, what is possibly more important, the guard booth acts as a deterrent to would-be trespassers by just being there as surveillance.  They do not try to get on school grounds due to the presence of access control.  Modular construction helps in this area because of how flexible and proven the structures are.  In some cases, schools may need a guard booth quickly, something to house security personnel by the beginning of the school year.  In this case, Panel Built offers a “quick ship” guard booth that can be manufactured and shipped to you within five days of your purchase order.  You would be able to completely overhaul your school’s security in a week.  However, other schools look for a building that fits into their surrounding architecture.  In that case, we provide more unique design options that can be modified to fit whatever existing buildings you may have.  We have built prefabricated guard houses to blend in on college campuses, military bases, and even courthouses.   


Press Boxes

On the lighter side of things, modular units work great as press boxes if your school district is looking to upgrade their sports facility.  Similar to our tower systems, press boxes make use of two modular systems that Panel Built consistently excels in, mezzanines and panelized buildings. With lead times that far outpace traditional construction, modular press boxes allow you to boost your stadium’s appeal in a month’s time and without all the site disruption.  Similar to our guard booths, our press boxes can be designed to fit into the surrounding scenery in both style and color.  Whether you are looking for something to fit in at a local high school or a division I college, we can design something to fit perfectly for you.   

Fire Rated Walls

Finally, one of the other advantages of our wall panel system is that they can be constructed out of a number of different materials to satisfy each project’s needs.  In the case of schools, many institutes look for a wall system that can provide superior protection in the case of emergencies, in this case, fire.  Panel Built offers a number of fire resistant wall systems from our Class A rated panels to our 1-hour fire rated panels that are designed to withstand a constant flame for an hour while still holding it’s structural integrity.  For a school system, these fire-resistant wall panels provide added safety in areas that are more susceptible to fire damage or hold a high volume of people and students.  These wall panels are tested and certified by an independent agency.
Overall, modular construction offers a number of advantages for school systems looking to make better use of their space.  With the convenience and affordability of our structures, they fit perfectly in with a school’s tight schedule and budget.  If you think your facility could benefit from the use of modular construction, give us a call at 800.636.3873, email us at info@panelbuilt.com, or contact one of our sales reps.  Our buildings and mezzanines are used by dozens of Fortune 500 companies, as well as all branches of the armed forces.  We have completed modular construction projects all across the United States and internationally.