Los Angeles USD, School Construction Program

The Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is the largest public school system in the state of California and the second largest in the country. The District serves a population of approximately 4.8 million residents and boasts over 650 schools providing for the educational needs of the vast community. Los Angeles Unified School District’s $20.3 billion school construction and renovation program is the largest program of its kind in the Western United States. The District’s goal is to not only eliminate overcrowding, but also create small, sustainable learning environments that provide a “cutting edge” education and connection to their surrounding communities. Included in their program goals is a resolution, passed in 2001 by the Board of Education, adopting sustainable standards set forth by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) or the LEED equivalent.

Since 2008, 3QC has provided Commissioning and Sustainability services in support of the LAUSD’s school construction program on over 1 million square feet of facilities worth over $556 million in construction cost. As Commissioning Agent for the District, 3QC has successfully commissioned six new campuses, two DSA approved pre-fabricated / modular projects and HVAC replacement projects at three separate campuses. In addition to commissioning projects, 3QC assisted the District with the development of the CHPS standard documents/design specifications, District wide quality control program requirements, and District commissioning program standards. We also contributed to the District’s 2010 Sustainability Program Assessment, which evaluated ongoing, planned sustainability efforts and addressed actions the District could consider in order to provide a more sustainable future for the community.

3QC understands that every client is unique. We work to provide the most comprehensive customer service to meet our client’s specific requirements and goals and improve quality from design to operation. Having the distinction of being the largest school district in the state of California and the second largest in the nation presents a variety of challenges for LAUSD in managing such a large student population with multiple public stakeholders, changing economic times, millions of square footage of facility needs, and a large, multi-faceted organization structure. Over our years of experience with LAUSD, 3QC has worked hard to understand how to work within the District’s structure and to add value to their program, below are a few examples.

District-wide requirements: In order to meet the varying demands of multiple departments impacting the design, construction and operation of District facilities, 3QC worked with LAUSD to review, revise and update the District’s overall CHPS and commissioning program requirements to provide a consistent quality standard for the program. Collaborating successfully within this challenging structure to clarify the District standards, 3QC worked to meet each of the stakeholder requirements including maintenance requirements from the facilities department, construction requirements from the project management department, and design standards to meet the design department’s requirements and common challenges.

Maya Angelou Community High School (Central Region High School #16): Late in the construction process of this new high school campus, it was discovered that the typical classroom exhaust fans would not perform according to the design requirements. This issue led to significant over-pressurization in many of the classrooms and interior hallways resulting in energy efficiency and safety issues from doors remaining open. Replacement of fans would have significantly impacted the schedule and delayed occupancy. 3QC worked with the design engineer of record and the construction contractor to identify and evaluate the issue and develop a solution correcting 95% of the pressurization problems without replacement of the equipment, thus avoiding schedule