Once again, this is the only current SPS project meeting both the Distressed Zip Code categories. And this one of only two SPS projects currently meeting the WBE goal.
Rudy Camacho
Construction Equity Compliance Advisor, City of Seattle Department of Finance & Administrative Services
Seattle Public Schools Central Kitchen Renovation
FORMA has been leading the multi-phase renovation of Seattle Public School’s Central Kitchen facilities in order to improve efficiency, modernize cooking and refrigeration equipment, and address plumbing and health code requirements–better supporting SPS in their efforts to serve healthier meals using fresh and locally sourced ingredients, with diverse options that more accurately reflect the many cultures served by Seattle Public Schools.
With more than 30,000 meals prepared, produced, and distributed to 118 Seattle schools per day, FORMA worked closely with District stakeholders and our team of engineers and kitchen design specialists to phase the bulk of our work–modernizing, reconfiguring, and installing a combination of salvaged and new kitchen equipment–during the summer months, minimizing the amount of time the 30,000 sf kitchen had to be shut down.
Creative ideas and precision sequencing have also been crucial to our successful planning and execution of this complex work in a critical facility under a very aggressive schedule. It became apparent early on in our planning process, for example, that if we were to saw-cut the structural slab from above (as was originally proposed), that process alone, combined with the waistline work and subsequent slab repairs would have likely surpassed the 10 week schedule allotted for the entire project–jeopardizing the ability of this important facility to feed Seattle students.
FORMA’s solution to tunnel under the building instead eliminated time consuming repairs to the structural slab and avoided disruption of the building’s pile cap / grade beam structural system–and critically, allowed our wasteline excavation work to begin months before the rest of the project could start with kitchen facilities still operational. A focused effort that guaranteed zero delays to the critical path, this work was successfully completed weeks before the kitchen shut down for the school year and our main renovations kicked off.
Working successfully under the District’s Student Community Workforce Agreement, the majority of our renovation work has been completed, the Central Kitchen is up and running for the school year, and our team is planning its final phase of work, targeting completion this summer.
