June 2020: THE FINISHED PRODUCT!
We are so very pleased with the outcome of our project. These campus spaces are a gift to our students, staff and community. It's all something to really be proud of for years to come!
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SYHS
Student Center & Cafeteria
Modernization Project
The Santa Ynez Valley Union High School District is well underway with an exciting scope of construction work this year. The last of the Measure K funds are being utilized for more below and above-ground utility upgrades, additional window and roofing replacement, as well as handicap accessibility improvements. Thank you again to our Valley voters for providing us with this opportunity . Additional construction is taking place thanks to the use of accrued Developer Fees over the years. These funds are being used to engage in new construction in the form of a student dining area that will result in the first-ever indoor seating for students. This increased capacity is long overdue. District funds are adding other dimensions to the project that will result in much improved and increased services and educational opportunities for our students. The community will also benefit as the sum total of these efforts will result in a first-class event space.
All of this work should be finished in time for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
Stay tuned for a grand opening ceremony in August, 2020.
The pictures above are earlier renderings by our architect of three different aspects of our construction this year:
Cafeteria – The old stage has been demolished to facilitate a seating area for students. This space will also include a new “food court” service area.
New addition – Extending into the former “pit” area, this covers almost 1,400 square feet of space that will be a seating area for students. When combined with the cafeteria space, there will be seating for approximately 250 students.
Courtyard - One of the Measure K portions of work in the pit area involved significant underground utility-replacement work for sewer, water and natural gas. The sewer line bisects the pit running east to west and also north and south, along with several water lines. This led to a conversation about how we wanted to put it back together. The opportunity to reinvent the space presented itself and we seized it. Students are looking forward to a more functional and fun space that looks more like a college campus. Additionally, foot traffic flow will be greatly improved along with increased safety as supervision in this area will be more effective with improved lines of sight.
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May 2020 Update
It's May and we're substantially complete. THE FENCING IS DOWN! It's the punch list that we're working on and the look is amazing. It is our hope that the students, staff an community will be thrilled.
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In spite of the COVID-19 restrictions placed on all of us that have been so restricting, construction remains one of the services deemed essential by the State of California. Amazing. So, the work goes on. This is the "home stretch" month for our construction process. Flooring, testing of the HVAC units, exterior painting, final planting of landscaping and making irrigation operational, installation of serving equipment...amazing to watch it all come together.
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March is the month of construction magic. We are in the home stretch for active construction with final tasks including block walls for the planter beds, the final concrete pour, bead board in the MPR, lighting fixtures, and the last of the window replacement. Additionally, paint is being applied to both interior and exterior surfaces. In the landscaping realm, trees and other plants go in the ground. Really fun news: the shade structure fabric was installed and this project is now complete. It's a fantastic addition to the courtyard. In the pictures you will also notice an old trench with some piping. We experienced an unexpected gas leak this month in the last of the old pipe that, two years ago, passed inspection. The repair was made and further work this summer will include the replacement of this run of pipe.
We are still on track to be substantially complete at the end of the month. The furniture order has been confirmed and the kitchen serving equipment is on the way for the new addition and the MPR!
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Eye-catching progress this month: LOTS of concrete poured (we should be done by the end of the month), ceilings restored in the MPR and, on a fun side note, some stellar new lighting for the east parking lot in front of the old gym. Great news: we are back on track to be substantially complete with our construction process by the end of March. April, May and part of the summer will be spent on punch-list items, furniture and equipment installation, training and also getting the kitchen back in working order. Finally, all of the trees showed up. They are big enough (48" to 60" boxes) that they will add an immediate visual (think green) and practical (think shade) benefit to the courtyard. Be on the lookout for a grand opening the first week of August. There is so much to be excited about!
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Lots of drywall has been installed in the MPR along with tile in the new lobby bathroom and stucco on the new addition. Another exciting step is the fist forms are being constructed for the pouring of concrete in the student center (yes, the old "pit" area). Also, our roofing work for this scope of work is now complete, which means that a crane was able to go to work and place a lot of HVAC equipment on the roof. This means much more efficient heating of the associated spaces and, for the first time ever, A/C in the kitchen and cafeteria. The new addition will start its life with both.
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December has been a slower month and our completion timeline has the possibility of being extended. While this is not something that we like to talk about, it's the nature of construction. That being said, significant progress has been made with the electrical infrastructure. There was also some great finish carpentry taking place, new window openings were framed and some of the exterior planter beds were formed and oured.
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The underground work is almost complete and the above-ground work is really taking off: seismic shoring, sheeting on the new addition, HVAC ducting and equipment, new concrete, restoration of the ceiling in the MPR and lobby, etc. It's much easier to see what the space is going to look like this spring.
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October 2019 Update
Construction is moving along at a solid pace: trenching, walls and ceilings reinforced, running electrical wire, roofing, door cutouts, wall and window framing…progress is being made! Work has also started on the shade structure, roofing on the band room and MPR is moving along, footings for the new addition and sewer work in the former "pit" area...it's a very active construction site. It's exciting to watch the spaces take the shape of what the final look and function will be. All of the framing is complete on the remodel portion of the work and walls are starting to get closed up.
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September 2019 Update
Demolition continued into early September, but the news got even better: construction began! Footings are being poured (MPR and new addition), walls are being upgraded for shear strength (think wind and earthquake resistance) and HVAC demo for the MPR, band room, kitchen and restaurant classroom is just about complete. Additionally, the roof tear-off began on the band room and MRP building. There is some urgency associated with the roof work getting buttoned up before any rain comes our way.
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August 2019 Update
In addition to exterior and interior demo, we also started a lot of work related to handicapped accessibility in the main parking lot, the interior bathrooms in the multi-purpose bathrooms and also the E-Wing bathrooms. Given the age of our facilities, the upgrades were required in order to comply with laws related to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
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July 2019 Update
Exterior demolition begins! Known as “heavy demo”, a lot of equipment was needed, to clear the space, creating a tremendous amount of debris that needed to be hauled off. Interior demolition, known as “soft demo”, also got underway towards the end of the month.
June 2019
Before demolition begins.
