Loudoun County Public Schools (LCPS) is Virginia’s fastest-growing school division and one of the fastest-growing school districts in the United States. LCPS participates in the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), a leading a national movement to improve student performance and the educational experience by building the best possible schools. In so doing, it has distinguished itself as a provider of superior educational facilities. Riverside and Rock Ridge high schools were two of several schools built to support the County’s rapidly-growing student population.
2RW provided full MEP/FP design for these two new schools and their respective athletic complexes. Both were based on an LCPS school prototype design developed 15 years earlier.
As part of the MEP/FP design process, 2RW provided energy modeling services to verify that the schools, when built, would meet the CHPS energy performance prerequisite of consuming 15% less site energy than a baseline building. 2RW also made recommendations for updating the building prototype to incorporate design and technology advancements, reduce capital expenses and operational costs, and meet energy performance requirements. Additional adjustments were made to simplify the building layout and fire separations and incorporate daylighting strategies for more natural light.
As part of these projects, 2RW also provided MEP/FP design for both schools’ athletic complexes. Each school has its own combined football and track-and-field facilities, baseball and softball fields, tennis courts, and related concessions, restrooms, utility buildings, press boxes, and field lighting. The field lighting was carefully designed to accommodate field orientation, location, and illuminance to ensure uniform light distribution and minimize over-spill into surrounding neighborhoods.
Energy models predicted a 25.7% reduction in energy consumption for both schools compared to a baseline. Factoring in prevailing utility rates this equates to a 20% cost savings, which exceeds the CHPS minimum energy performance requirement.
OWNER: Loudoun County Public Schools
TIMEFRAME: Riverside: 2012 – 2015; Rock Ridge: 2013 – 2014
SIZE: Riverside: 266,000 SF; Rock Ridge: 280,000 SF
COST: Riverside: $61 million; Rock Ridge: $66 million