Lake Highlands Middle School

The Richardson ISD Lake Highlands Middle School is a 249,000 Sq. Ft., 3-story middle school that includes an ICC-500 rated community tornado shelter located in Dallas, TX. The project is a replacement for the existing Lake Highlands Junior High School that was originally built in the 1960s. The new facility is being referred to as a Middle School since it will now include 6th grade in addition to 7th and 8th grade at this facility once complete.

The facility will utilize a 4-pipe chilled and heating water system for the majority of the 3-story portion of the school and Roof-Top AC units for the majority of the athletic and other specialty areas. In keeping with the initiative in Richardson ISD to help promote STEAM learning, the facility will have a STEM lab centrally located on the first level of the facility which will include a mechanical room with full height windows to allow students to see the mechanical system serving the first floor of the facility and thus allow instructors to discuss these systems in their curriculum.

The project is a multi-year phased project that was made possible by the ability to design and build the facility in a largely unused portion of the field next to the school, which allows the new facility to be built while keeping the existing facility in use until the new facility is complete. The project required significant coordination of existing and new utilities to allow for the new facility to be constructed while the existing is occupied.

The Architect of Record is Perkins + Will and the General Contractor is Cadence McShane.