Danvers, MA – When the doors open in late summer 2014, Essex Technical High School will will offer a unique breadth of curriculum opportunities unmatched by any other technical high school in the region. The new school will combine a full spectrum of technical and service career programs with a robust agricultural career training curriculum.
Entering freshmen will be able to preview 22 possible tracks in four academies – Animal and Plant Science; Technology and Services; Life and Natural Sciences and Construction Technology – before choosing their area of specialization.
Design Partnership of Cambridge, Inc. (DPC) has been the project’s programming and design lead since being awarded the initial feasibility study by DCAMM in 2003. PMA Consultants is performing Owner’s Project Manager duties and Gilbane Building Company is Construction Manager at Risk.
Principal engineering design consultants include R. W. Sullivan Engineering, Judith Nitsch Associates and Warner-Larson Landscape Architects.
The new school’s main building stretches for almost 1000 ft. along the north side of Route 62 in Danvers. The four academies are accommodated in 335,000sf of floor area on three levels. The lowest level, made up of high-bay industrial space, is bermed into the steeply sloping site, invisible from the entrance approaches. The two upper levels combine technical instruction spaces with core classrooms and labs, intentionally integrating career and academic learning experiences. The four academies, each a self-contained small learning community with its own administration and counseling cadre and dining/gathering space, are visually defined as separate articulations along the length of the building.
The full project develops a site area of over 35 acres, including a sprawling farmstead with an additional 50,000sf in six buildings, barns and paddocks for the animals, an indoor riding rink, parking for over 500 cars, and playing fields including a 1500-seat football/soccer/field hockey stadium and competition track.
Another feature is an 800’ long “lock-block” retaining wall, in places 20’ high, constructed to protect sensitive wetlands and endangered species habitat.
Total estimated project cost is $138.5 million, shared by the Massachusetts School Building Authority, the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance and the 17 communities comprising the new School District.