NYS Education Department, NY-CHPS Guidelines for High Performance Schools

The New York State Education Department has announced the publication of NY-CHPS – High Performance Schools Guidelines”. The Guidelines were written to assist school districts and their design teams in the planning and construction of sustainable, easily maintained  school buildings.

The content of the Guidelines was directly influenced by the presentations made by NYSCMA guest speaker Christopher Huckabee, AIA, at the 2005 Spring Masonry Tech Day. Mr. Huckabee stressed the following points, which are now included in the Guidelines:

The NYSCMA has introduced its “F’m2000 - Assurance of Quality Program”, across New York State. The purpose of the program is to promote cost-effective structural masonry designs by utilizing higher strength concrete masonry units.

Within the F’m2000 program, participating NYSCMA member block producers manufacture their regular production concrete masonry units to achieve minimum unit compressive strengths of 2800 psi in 28 days. This unit strength translates into a compressive strength of the masonry (f’m) as assembled of 2000 psi when type S or M mortar is used. The F’m2000 standard exceeds current New York State building code requirements and ASTM C - 90.

 Concrete masonry units are pre-qualified for inclusion in the program via standard ASTM testing procedures performed at the National Concrete Masonry Association headquarters in Herndon, Virginia. In addition, quarterly random tests are performed in accordance with ASTM C 140 to verify consistency of unit strength.

New York State Projects where F’m2000 concrete masonry units have been specified include

New York State Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration

The NYS Concrete Masonry Association initiated the formation of a joint task group to investigate and resolve problems with concrete paver installations described during  a technical session conducted at the 2004 NYSCMA Spring Masonry Tech Day. A representative from FHWA commented that troubles with several installations in crosswalks and intersections across the state prompted a moratorium on the use of concrete pavers where vehicular traffic counts exceeded 4000 AADT (Annual Average Daily Traffic).

The NYSCMA formed the coalition with representatives from FHWA, NYSDOT, the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute, and an NYSCMA member producer.

 The dilemma with the paver installations was quickly identified in the first meeting. The failures were due to the NYSDOT specification in place at the time that allowed the pavers to be installed directly over a milled asphalt surface. Traffic loads were transferred through the pavers to the asphalt, which continued to rut and shove under traffic load. The pavers then began to spread apart as they conformed to the contours of the rutted asphalt base.

 After several conferences conducted at the NYSCMA’s Albany office in 2006, a new specification with separate design details was drafted and distributed to the NYSDOT Regional Materials Engineers as an Engineering Instruction for Precast Concrete Paving.. The EI specifies that concrete pavers placed in traffic situations shall be installed upon an 8” concrete sub-base, rather than asphalt. Pavers are also to be placed in a herringbone pattern, which offers a tighter interlock than other patterns, according to experts at the ICPI. Finally, the traffic threshold was raised to 8000AADT.

The first trial for the new specification and design details was the street in front of the Niagara Falls Conference Center, NYSDOT Region 5. Approximately 5000 square feet of concrete pavers were placed on 112 cubic yards of Class C NYSDOT concrete sub-base, 8” thick,  from curb to curb over four lanes, four blocks long. A second project, located in East Aurora, N.Y., is scheduled to be bid in July 2007, and will require 56,000 square feet of 8” concrete sub-base and concrete pavers.

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NYS Education Department, NY-CHPS Guidelines for High Performance Schools

The New York State Education Department has announced the publication of “NY-CHPS – High Performance Schools Guidelines”. The Guidelines were prepared with support from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) in cooperation with The Collaborative for High Performance Schools, Inc.

The Guidelines were written to assist school districts and their design teams in the planning and construction of sustainable school buildings that enhance the educational environment and facilitate the learning process. Schools designed to meet the NY-CHPS Guidelines incorporate principles of durability, ease of maintenance, utilization of natural resources, and provide long-term benefits for students and teachers.

These are the very same principles advocated by guest speaker Chris Huckabee, AIA in his presentations on “Mold and Masonry” and the “Role of Masonry in Sustainability” at the 2005 NYSCMA Spring Masonry Tech Day and Trade Show. The lead architect and author of the Guidelines for NYSED Facilities Planning was in the audience, and was influenced by Chris’ presentations to write the Guidelines materials section with a strong preference for the use of concrete masonry as well as other durable cement based products. To download Chris’ presentations, visit www.nys.org.

NYSED states that the NY-CHPS Guidelines help designers and school districts understand the true life-cycle cost of a school, focusing not just on initial construction costs, but also including energy, maintenance and replacement costs as well. School construction bonds are typically distributed over long financing periods, up to 30 years.  New school buildings must employ building materials and construction technology that outlast the bonds that pay for them.  NY-CHPS helps designers and school officials select building materials and technologies based on overall life-cycle cost of ownership and the best interests of the building’s occupants.

High Performance Design is not reserved solely for new construction; renovation of existing schools represents a significant opportunity as well. As of 2005, the average age of New York school buildings exceeded 50 years.  As New York’s school buildings age, many will be scheduled to undergo significant renovations.  The overhaul of these structures provides school districts with an opportunity to increase energy efficiency and indoor environmental quality while maintaining and promoting building durability.  Once again, the opportunity exists for increased use of concrete masonry and other cement-based products.

Although it is usually assumed that building high performance schools is more costly, NYSED maintains that is not always the case.  By using an integrated design process from the start, better buildings can usually be built at little — and sometimes no — additional construction cost.  This information is confirmed in the Fire Safe Construction Cost Comparison Study, funded by the Northeast Regional Fire Safety Construction Advisory Councils and the Northeast Cement Shippers Association, and authored by Walter Schneider, P.E., PhD, of Haas Architects Engineers.

The NYSCMA has undertaken several steps to fulfill the NYSED request for assistance in the  promotion of the NY-CHPS Guidelines across New York State.

The NYSCMA continues to work closely with NYSED to promote the Guidelines. Future plans include conducting educational seminars with Tom Robert and Dr. Bell across the state to promote awareness of the Guidelines to school superintendents, school board officials, school building and business officials, architects, and engineers.

 To review a printable copy of the NY-CHPS Guidelines for High Performance Schools, click here.