First Net Zero Energy Elementary School in Alexandria
Skanska announces it has reached the “topping-out” milestone at the Douglas MacArthur Elementary School located at 1101 Janneys Lane in Alexandria, Va. Representatives from Skanska, Alexandria City Public Schools, and Skanska’s construction partners commemorated the event during a ceremony on July 27, 2022.
The topping-out ceremony is a symbolic tradition that has been passed down for generations throughout the construction industry. It honors the construction team’s hard work and the support of the surrounding community, and signals a time of celebration for the progress made on a project.
When complete, the 150,000-square-foot school will accommodate spaces for classrooms, art and music rooms and physical education. Outside the walls of the school, the site will be home to new turf fields, pedestrian safe drop-off zones and driveways, basketball courts and playground areas. Scheduled to open in 2023, this new environmentally friendly facility will continue to serve students from pre-kindergarten to fifth grade, replacing the former 65,000-square-foot school.
As a net-zero school, the amount of energy that will be produced onsite by renewable sources at Douglas MacArthur Elementary will match the energy used by the building and its occupants. Some of the notable net-zero design features of the project include:
- Geothermal system: Located under an artificial turf field, the closed loop system utilizes thermal energy to heat or cool the building.
- Photovoltaic panels: An array of panels on the roof efficiently captures light for conversion to energy, reducing the building’s demand for electricity from the grid.
- Passive systems: The building design includes many passive features such as maximizing natural daylight and ventilation from the outdoors and, low- and no-VOC paint, carpets and tile.
- Bathrooms: Instead of gang-style bathrooms that are typically found in schools, Douglas McArthur Elementary will feature individual bathrooms with low flush toilets and low water use sinks.
An underground parking garage will maximize the campus’s recreational options and increase its aesthetic appeal with expansive green space surrounding the new building that connects to the wooded areas behind the school. The new facility is designed to provide its elementary school students with a variety of indoor and outdoor play and creativity spaces.
“This project continues our successful and ongoing work delivering sustainable buildings in this region,” said Dale Kopnitsky, executive vice president and general manager for Skanska USA Building’s Washington, DC region. “This transformational project will be a key asset for Alexandria and serve as a catalyst for growth and education in the community for years to come.”
The new school facility will be built to achieve LEED Gold v4 certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
About Skanska
Skanska uses knowledge & foresight to shape the way people live, work, and connect. More than 135 years in the making, we’re one of the world’s largest development and construction companies. We operate in select markets throughout the Nordics, Europe and the United States. Skanska in the U.S. is headquartered in New York City with 30 offices around the country. In 2021, construction in the U.S. generated $6.4 billion in revenue, and as a developer in the U.S., Skanska has invested a total of $3 billion in commercial and multi-family projects. Together with our customers and the collective expertise of our 7,300+ teammates in the U.S. and 30,000+ globally, we create innovative and sustainable solutions that support healthy living beyond our lifetime.
