K-12 Schools Report

High schools, K-5 facilities lead the growth in K-12 sector

High schools led the growth in K-12 construction spending during the last year with peak enrollment now in the 10th grade. Middle school construction spending fell 15%.

Surprisingly, construction spending expanded for K-5 schools at about the 13% pace recorded in the high school market. This most likely reflected delayed replacement and upgrading and is not expected to continue with K-5 enrollment flattening in the next few years.

Overall, K-12 construction spending will increase 6% this year and in 2008, which is approximately the pace of project cost inflation. Funds available for K-12 construction are less generous than in 2004-07, but still about normal. Available funding will weaken further for more than a year as local property, corporate, and income tax revenue growth slows, possibly even declining slightly in mid-2008. Expect funding cutbacks in financially stressed Arizona, Florida, and Nevada, and possibly California.

Top 20 K-12 schools design firms
(2007 billings in $ millions)

	Company	Billings
Source: 2008 Giants 300 survey Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1.	AECOM Technology Corp.	141.45
2.	Heery International	90.47
3.	URS Corp.	60.00
4.	DLR Group	45.40
5.	PBK	42.16
6.	Jacobs Engineering Group	39.35
7.	STV Group	38.94
8.	NTD Architecture	37.42
9.	Fanning/Howey Associates	35.44
10.	HMC Architects	27.26
11.	Thomas Group, The	21.56
12.	Moseley Architects	21.01
13.	Perkins+Will	20.40
14.	CUH2A	19.20
15.	Parsons Brinckerhoff	16.44
16.	RS&H	14.70
17.	Harvard Jolly	13.37
18.	LPA	12.42
19.	BRPH Cos.	11.59
20.	Perkins Eastman	11.22

Top 20 K-12 schools contractors
(2007 construction value put in place in $ millions)

	Company	Value put in place
Source: 2008 Giants 300 survey Note: This ranking is based on firms that made the Giants 300 list.
1.	Gilbane Building Co.	566.66
2.	Turner Corp., The	282.01
3.	Hunt Construction Group	260.00
4.	Adolfson & Peterson Construction	228.48
5.	Heery International	227.14
6.	McCarthy Holdings	214.74
7.	Fusco	210.38
8.	Structure Tone	200.06
9.	Skanska USA Building	200.00
10.	Kraus-Anderson Construction	189.29
11.	Sundt Construction	169.62
12.	CORE Construction Group	168.22
13.	Barton Malow	165.30
14.	PCL Construction Enterprises	156.15
15.	Hensel Phelps Construction	151.16
16.	C.W. Driver	139.23
17.	Haskell Co., The	135.85
18.	JE Dunn Construction Group	131.76
19.	Hall Building Corp.	123.42
20.	Suffolk Construction	121.97

AIA: Commercial Flooring

The colorful ribboned flooring at Toronto’s Corus Quay mimics the iconic corkscr

Discussions of commercial flooring tend to focus on the floor covering or finish material. This is hardly surprising, since the covering is the part of the floor that stakeholders see, interact with, and care about most. The...

The use of light load-bearing glass to create transparent stairs, floors, and ot

Glass has taken on new life in recent building years. Long valued for its transparency and lightness, glass is now also being considered for its structural and protective capabilities. Beyond the technique known as...

Building owners must plan ahead for roof replacement to avoid emergency leak rem

No building owner wants to be caught unprepared by catastrophic roof failure. Emergency roof replacements tend to be more expensive than planned ones, and damage to interiors may mean unrecovered costs and detrimental...

AIA: New Developments in Concrete Construction

Concrete has long been a reliable building material for commercial and institutional projects. Yet recent trends, including the growth in hospitality and urban rental project starts, as well as mixed-use towers and transit-...

Energy performance starts at the building envelope

Until recently, it has been lighting, mechanical, and control system upgrades which have received the most attention in the green building movement. At long last, the industry is now recognizing building enclosures as a long...

Brick and stone masonry have served as reliable and valuable elements of commercial building projects for centuries, gracing urban and rural landscapes since time immemorial. Building Teams have trusted clay brick to bring...

Making the Most of the Reconstruction Boom Reconstruction in its many forms—tenant improvements, retail fitouts, adaptive reuse, historic preservation, gut rehab, and so on—is keeping many design and construction firms...

Codes harvest rainwater

The topic of water shortages is nothing new, as cities around the globe struggle with drought, water quality, supply constraints, and failing infrastructures. However, the idea of new plumbing codes and design standards...

Guard booths, stations and shelters are defense strategy linchpins, becoming increasingly integral to perimeter defense planning. Before evaluating the efficacy of different guard booth configurations, and before selecting a...

From the company that brought you Construction Computing Magazine’s 2011 BIM Product of the Year ArchiCAD 15, the “Get There Faster with ArchiCAD” whitepaper examines five critical areas to explore before making your final...

2011 Zero and Net-Zero Energy Buildings + Homes

Download Complete White Paper Download Introduction Download Chapters 1-4Defining Net-Zero Energy Buildings

Our seventh White Paper on Green Buildings focuses on the role of water in sustainable design and construction. The editors conclude with a set of 21 detailed recommendations for the consideration of the Building Teams, home...