Catch the “Green” School Sprouting from the Construction Site

Next fall Virginia Beach’s first “green school,” Hermitage Elementary, will open its doors for students. In the meantime the community can watch it “sprout” up via a Web Camera or “Live Job Site Camera.”

Moseley Architects, the architectural firm that designed the building, installed a Web camera, or “Live Job Site Camera,” that enables viewers to see tradesmen working at the construction site located at 1701 Pleasure House Road.

Hermitage is regarded as a “green” school because the new structure will contain many environmentally savvy amenities. Jeff Harris, the Moseley architect who designed the “green” Hermitage building, said the environmentally-sound features include special filters installed in the heating and cooling system; different air flow requirements that will result in energy efficiency; building materials that contain a percentage of recyclable elements; higher insulation values to keep the building as warm as possible in the winter and cooler in the summer; a structural design that promotes an abundant flow of sunlight; the use of paints and floor adhesives with minimal odors; sinks and toilets with low water usage; and other components.

At the “green school” construction site, crews are saving recyclable debris from the demolished building, Harris said. The building’s environmentally friendly design means the school will merit LEED designation. LEED means Leadership in Energy and Environ-mental Design. Hermitage will be the second LEED school in Virginia.

According to Tony Arnold, director of Facilities Planning and Construction, the reason why the division decided to rebuild Hermitage as a “green school” was to incorporate the nation’s best use practices to build an environmentally efficient school. Hermitage was demolished last year as part of the school division’s comprehensive school renovation/replacement plan. In the meantime, while crews work on the building, Hermitage’s kindergarten and first-grade pupils are learning at Shelton Park Elementary School. Hermitage upperclassmen are housed in the former Kemps Landing Magnet
School building at 535 Kempsville Road. The new $9.7 million structure will open with a capacity for 567 students.

J. Tim Cole, project manager in the Office of Facilities Planning and Construction, said the Web cam is a first at a school construction site for Virginia Beach City Public Schools. “We will most likely use them on all of our large projects now.” Cole added that Moseley has incorporated Web cameras at its other projects.

The link, www.moseleyprojects.com, allows access to Hermitage site via the Moseley Projects home page. Under the Elementary School heading, viewers can click “Select A Project” and hit “Hermitage Elementary School,” which will lead to a blank screen. To activate the screen, click “Live Job Site Camera” found in the column at the left of the screen. Viewers can follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen to view various pre-set images at the Hermitage construction site.

“The camera was installed at Hermitage so that the school, as well as the community, could monitor the progress the facility,” Cole said. “The camera enables our office to monitor conditions on the site after hours as well as facilitate discussions between architects, engineers and consultants who are not at the site.”

Tradesmen working on the project “have used the camera to look at conditions on the site and track progress,” Cole said.

Sharon Shewbridge, Hermitage’s computer resource specialist, said the school informed the Hermitage family about the new technological way to track their school’s construction progress information in the PTA and school newsletters.