Skanska Steps Up Focus on School Development

WASHINGTON, DC—Skanska has a strong portfolio of education projects nationally but it is only beginning to break into this particular sector in the DC area. It has secured two local projects, one of which that recently delivered, and the company is poised to win a number of other projects in the coming months in the District, Maryland and Virginia, Pamela Murray Johnson, project executive with Skanska USA Building Operations tells GlobeSt.com.

There is a Baltimore contract for which the company has been short-listed, she says. "We are also keeping our eye on the Department of Defense school contract that is supposed to come out this summer," she says. There are also projects in Fairfax County and Loudoun County Skanska hopes to secure as well as a number of charter schools in the local area.

It was merely circumstance that led Skanska to pursue opportunities other than education in the DC area, Johnson says. "When we first opened our office here we focused on government work, the pharma industry and general office product."

Now the focus is increasingly on education, she says.

The company recently cut the ribbon on its latest project, the new Brookland Middle School in DC, a 107,000-square foot arts integration school building with administrative offices, cafeteria, media center, classrooms, science and technology labs and teacher work center.

The new building includes a rooftop outdoor learning classroom and a performing arts auditorium as well as special education facilities integrated throughout the school. The building, which can accommodate 540 students, will be heated and cooled by a geothermal system installed under the existing ballfield. The project was designed to meet LEED Gold certification.

In fact, Johnson says, the project is on the cusp of secure LEED Platinum certification but that is not for certain.