Balfour Beatty Rolls Out Renovations at Atlanta School

By Eric Althoff

ATLANTA—Building and infrastructure firm Balfour Beatty has completed improvements to the West Manor Elementary School in Atlanta’s Lynhurst neighborhood. The elementary school falls under the umbrella of the Atlanta Public Schools entity.

The contractor was able to complete the renovation work nearly three months ahead of schedule, the firm announced recently. The design partner on the project was Collins Cooper Carusi Architects.

Renovations entailed work on both the interior and exterior. Balfour Beatty commenced the work at West Manor in June 2020. During the accelerated work schedule, the contractor added and/or renovated 52,000 square feet of educational space.

New spaces include a gym and a performance hall and meeting spaces. The work also entailed installing a new roof, sprinkler system and refining the HVAC system from the ground up. Additionally, administrative space for staff was added. Balfour Beatty also added additional classrooms for music, language and arts instruction. On the outside, the parking area was expanded and right-of-way improved.

Balfour Beatty utilized lean construction techniques to push forward the projected date of delivery to the school district. They also applied “value engineering” to save money on the roof renewal and HVAC updating.

In a recent statement, Mike Macon, Balfour Beatty senior vice president in Georgia, said that his firm was proud to work with Atlanta Public Schools on West Manor Elementary School.

“Throughout the lifecycle of the project, our team leveraged our industry experience in K-12 construction while remaining agile and consistently collaborating with Atlanta Public Schools to complete this project nine weeks ahead of schedule,” Macon said.

Added Theondrae Reid, project manager for Atlanta Public Schools: “I’ve had the pleasure of working with Balfour Beatty on three consecutive school projects, and their proactive approach in providing creative construction solutions has exceeded our district’s goals and expectations to create dynamic learning environments for the Lynhurst community and beyond.”

West Manor Elementary School is located at 570 Lynhurst Drive SW, and is now open for in-person instruction.