ACADEMY OF THE SACRED HEART - MATER CAMPUS RENOVATIONS

Albright Management Strategies, LLC (AMSLLC) is serving as the Owner’s Representative for the Academy of the Sacred Heart (ASH) on the first major project at the Mater Campus since its original renovation in 2004-2005 after the purchase of the property. The Mater Campus is home to the Little Hearts, Pre-K/K and 1st-4th grade students. The project was designed by Gould Evans.

AMSLLC’s partnership with the Academy of the Sacred Heart began in 2017 with the Program Planning Phase for future projects at the Mater and Rosary Campuses. During a three-month period, AMSLLC conducted design charrettes with the various contingency groups - faculty/administration, parents and students. This process was utilized to obtain the insight and feedback from the groups on their hopes, interests and concerns related to future potential school projects.

In October 2018, AMSLLC was engaged as the Owner’s Representative during the design phase of the Mater Campus Renovation of the Nims Fine Arts Center and Main Entrance to the Mater Campus. AMSLLC worked alongside the Architect and General Contractor reviewing the design development documents and corresponding budget estimates. A key goal for AMSLLC was to maintain ASH’s original budget established for the project. This required keen attention to the plans and specifications and the correlating construction costs. AMSLLC provided recommendations for alternate cost-saving ideas and created itemized budget goals for all scopes of work. In each of the three budget exercises, the estimated construction costs decreased as a result of these efforts.

During the construction phase, AMSLLC communicates and corresponds with the project team on a daily basis. Tracking project issues and progressing towards solutions are vital aspects of AMSLLC’s management services. Monitoring the construction schedule, review of change proposals and tracking project costs are also key facets to serving as the Owner’s Representative. AMSLLC is honored to be a part of this exciting endeavor and partnership with the Academy of the Sacred Heart.

KENNER DISCOVERY HEALTH SCIENCES ACADEMY

Albright Management Strategies, LLC is serving as the Owner’s Representative for the new 125,000-sf high school facility at Loyola Avenue and Vintage Drive in Kenner. The project was designed by Sizeler Thompson Brown Architects.

The school’s 9th-12th grade classrooms are located on the second and third floors along with nine science and engineering labs. Elective classrooms include art, music, theater/speech, foreign language and digital/business media centers. Additional features are a 7,700-sf cafeteria, a 5,200-sf library and a Teaching Kitchen. The building envelope consists of precast concrete panels and structural steel construction, metal wall panels, glass curtainwall system and a modified bitumen roof. The cafeteria and library will have spectacular views of the fully landscaped, outdoor scored concrete plaza. A covered walkway will connect the high school to the existing modular campus. The design also includes a new soccer field area.

AMSLLC began its partnership with Kenner Discovery Health Sciences Academy in March 2018 during the project’s schematic design phase. During the design development phase, it was determined that the project’s estimated construction cost would exceed the original budget. The project team diligently collaborated on value-engineering ideas and concepts to reduce project costs. Through recommendations by AMSLLC, the Owner opted to directly contract with several vendors which included scopes of work pertaining to food service equipment, signage and window treatments. The original total cost of these specific scopes of work was approximately $1,000,000. AMSLLC coordinated and evaluated proposals from numerous vendors, ultimately reducing the total cost of these scopes of work by $250,000. A critical aspect of the school’s operations pertains to the design of special systems such as intrusion detection, CCTV system, telecommunications and paging and intercom. AMSLLC effectively managed the coordination between the Architect and the Owner’s leadership team to ensure the needs of the school were properly included in the design documents.

During the construction phase of the project, the daily communication and correspondence with the project team members on behalf of the Owner is handled by AMSLLC. Monitoring the project schedule, review of change order proposals and managing project issues are some primary aspects of AMSLLC’s services. AMSLLC is also managing the Owner’s FF&E needs which consist of all furniture for the 125,000-sf facility and technology equipment.