Ray Braswell High School
Denton, Texas  
Award of Merit

Owner: Denton Independent School District
Lead Design Firm: VLK Architects
General Contractor: Balfour Beatty US
Civil Engineer: Teague Nall & Perkins
Structural Engineer: EIKON Consulting Group
MEP Engineer: Reeds, Wells, Benson & Co.
Landscape Architect: Caye Cook & Associates
Food Service Consulting and Design: JMK Foodservices Consulting and Design
Acoustical/Theatrical Consultants: Wright, Johnson, Haddon & Williams Inc.

During two-and-a-half years of construction on the $114.5-million Ray Braswell High School, crews had to contend with six months of 100-year storms, which included rain, snow and extremely muddy conditions during foundation, slab and major courtyard segments.

The lack of paving on site required the project team to mitigate significant mud areas by building temporary roads of flex base around the building perimeter. The application of 6,114 linear ft of flex base material spread out at a width of 4 ft allowed workers and machinery to move around the jobsite safely without becoming further mired in the vast stretches of mud.

This high school, designed to serve 2,600 students, sits on 108 acres, and the site’s original sanitary plan had to be reengineered and relocated. Earthwork operations were delayed five months because of the environmentally sensitive areas. In coordination with all stakeholders, the project team developed a two-phase schedule, prioritizing completion of critical areas in the first phase by the first day of school in August 2016 and the second phase in February 2017.

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