December 2023 Newsletter
RWB Hosts Open House
RWB extends its gratitude to all those who attended our Open House, where we celebrated our new office alongside our valued clients and business partners. The event saw a fantastic turnout, and we appreciate your presence.
Sanger ISD High School
On October 25, 2023, Sanger ISD celebrated the groundbreaking of their new high school campus. School officials, current and former board members, and project team members kicked off the start of the project by grabbing a shovel and tossing some dirt. Board President Pete Filippi said, “This has been a long time coming. We’ve planned this project for ten years, and now we are at the point of putting buildings up.”
Sanger Superintendent Adela Jones said, “The district continues to grow, and right now, we have 3,100 students at the existing high school, which was built for 2,200 students.”
The 280,000-square-foot campus will include four academic wings and a centrally located administration suite. Three of the academic wings contain core subjects, science labs, small collaboration spaces, and a 100-seat lecture hall. The fourth wing has Career and Technology Education spaces that include a culinary lab and bistro, a floral design lab, and an audio/video lab. The campus is arranged around a large, secured outdoor courtyard that students can use during the day or for after-school events. The campus will also feature a competition gymnasium, a storm shelter, and a new athletic fieldhouse.
The new high school campus is expected to be completed in 18 months.
JJ Pearce Renovations
RWB Consulting Engineers has been a part of the design team at JJ Pearce High School in Richardson ISD, designing the MEP scope for the renovations and additions that have provided upgrades to the existing systems and new equipment to support the construction of building additions that will increase campus capacity to 3,013 students.
The additions to the building include two-story classroom wings at the northwest and southwest corners of the existing building, a one-story fine arts storm shelter addition on the southeast side of the school, a two-story storm shelter gymnasium, office and classroom addition on the north end of the existing school, and a new cafeteria in the heart of the campus where an outdoor courtyard previously existed. Now, teachers and students have learning environments that provide enhanced collaborative spaces.
In addition to these expansions, the majority of the existing school was heavily renovated, including the existing auditorium, allowing for an ADA-accessible 1,400-seat multi-functional theater with an accompanying new and expanded lobby and newly renovated CTE programs and admin spaces. Altogether, there have been 140,270 square feet of new construction and 348,720 square feet of renovation. The relocations of the main entrances and administration office dramatically transformed the campus pathway to create a friendlier, more inviting visit that easily navigates visitors through the building.
As the project reaches completion in August 2024, the previously completed Phase I and current additions and renovations in Phase II will result in a modern, 21st-century structure.
Project Highlight Flashback
RWB has over 37 years working with multiple school districts in North Texas and beyond. We’ve seen significant population growth during that time and have had the opportunity to design efficient MEP systems for many large High School replacement projects in those districts. Three of those projects that have completed construction or started design within the last two years are:
Denton HS (pictured above) is a 490,000 SF replacement high school built to accommodate a capacity of 2,200 students. This facility was constructed next to the existing occupied campus and now sits on a 150-acre site. The previously existing High School facility is now being renovated to become a middle school and other facilities.
Sherman HS is a 490,000 SF, ground-up, three-story facility that can accommodate 2,600 9th- 12th grade students. It replaced the previous Sherman High School facility, and similar to Denton HS, the existing High School is being renovated into a middle school. It was awarded the AIA Merit Award for design in 2022.
Crowley HS is currently in the design phase. The majority of the building will be entirely new, with a portion of the existing building planned for renovation and inclusion into the new building. Some buildings and site elements are planned for replacement, while others are planned to remain without renovation. The total occupiable square footage for the main building is estimated to be approximately 425,000 sf. The new construction includes administration areas, a multi-level academic wing, a cafeteria and kitchen, a fine arts center, a basketball arena, and other programming areas. The Project Site is located on the same site as the existing Crowley High School and will involve multiple phases of construction, similar to Pearce High School, where the existing high school will remain occupied while it is replaced in essentially the same location.
RWB Seeks Interns at University Career Fairs
RWB recently attended career fairs at UTD, UTA, and Texas A&M, visiting with several talented students to join us for the Spring and Summer Internship Program in 2024. As part of our internship program, RWB gives interns the opportunity to get real-world experience in the A/E/C industry by using their knowledge to support our team in designing MEP systems for a wide variety of commercial building projects.
Darrell Williams serves as Panelist at UTD Event
In October, Electrical Engineer Darrell Williams was invited by The University of Texas at Dallas to be a guest panelist in a group talking to students about insights into careers in electrical engineering. The purpose of the panel discussion was to learn about the various career paths in the electrical field. Darrell, along with other electrical professionals, talked about their backgrounds, journeys, and current roles
TASA | TASB Conference
The TASA | TASB conference was a successful attendance for RWB Consulting Engineers, connecting with clients and speaking with attendees district-wide across Texas.
NTAEE Conference
The North Texas Association of Energy Engineers [NTAEE] held a conference at Lone Star horse racing track in Grand Prairie, where we had the opportunity to engage with attendees and hear educational presentations focused on energy efficiency, such as the new energy landscape, benefits of solar panels, air disinfection technologies and code changes to the 2021 IECC.
Office Halloween Festivies
Check out the creative costumes from our team!
Welcome to RWB!
Brad Clark, P.E., Engineer | Mechanical
RWB welcomed Brad in August to the mechanical team, and in the past couple of years, he has passed the FE and PE exams. Then, in February of this year, Brad acquired his Texas Professional Engineering license. He attended Texas Tech University, earning his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering Technology in 2013. For the past decade, Brad has worked on projects ranging from residential, and commercial office buildings to multi-family and mixed-use, hospitality, automotive, and manufacturing facilities.
Sina Darehshori, Designer | Mechanical
Sina joined RWB in August as a Mechanical designer. He brings nearly nine years of experience in Mechanical design and has worked in multiple markets, including K12, commercial, multi-family, industrial, hospitality, and religious facilities.
Josiah Newman, Engineer | Mechanical
Josiah interned with RWB in 2018 and 2023, then joined the team full-time in August. Josiah graduated from The University of Texas at Dallas with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. During his free time, Josiah is often on a bike trail, playing pickleball, or serving in the student ministry at the University of Texas at Dallas.
Fall 2023 Interns
Issac Barnes is in his senior year at the University of North Texas and is majoring in Mechanical Energy Engineering.
What inspired you to go after your major?
I have always had a curiosity about how things have worked. From a young age, I would take apart RC cars and build different things like hoverboards and ziplines. However, it was a Technical program in Mechatronics at SOTC that inspired me to pursue engineering as a career.
Ziyaad Ahemd is a high school intern from Berkner High School, and Julian Villamar-Robbins attends Lake Highlands, both in the Richardson School District. Currently, Ziyaad is working on compiling drawings and Revit models for DFW Airport, and Jullian is working on compiling drawings and Revit models for Lake Highlands HS. This task of creating “record projects” will require them to fill in any gaps and potentially model MEP work from PDFs or AutoCAD files.
