Sehome High School

Harris was awarded the design-assist contract for the new Sehome High School in Bellingham, Washington. This state-of-the-art facility fosters innovation and provides flexibility for future programmatic initiatives. New athletic fields, baseball, softball & football. The design focused on creating a healthy learning/teaching environment while being energy efficient and enhancing student safety.

Harris provided value engineering at the beginning of the project that saved the owner money while not sacrificing on quality. Some examples of value engineering were: PVC pipe for underground DWV piping systems, reduced 5 boiler system to 3 boilers, Pex tubing for domestic water verticals and alternate equipment manufacturers.

A challenge during the project was keeping the existing school on the same property operational during the construction of the new school. The project was divided into four phases to avoid disruption to normal class schedules. Another challenge was the soil settlement of building in Sector 5. Harris reallocated resources to other sector while engineers designed the custom foundation to withstand the settlement.