Education

For Wellington Middle-High School and Timnath Middle-High School, the joy of construction is understanding that the only thing that stands between you and a functional, beautiful building is your imagination. Where once there was a parking lot or a field, a community cornerstone can emerge. In the case of this project, Encore Electric collaborated with general contractor partner Adolfson & Peterson Construction to turn a cornfield and a prairie into two nearly identical high schools for the Poudre School District in Northern Colorado.

The two schools were built with a roughly six-month lag between them in the towns of Wellington and Timnath near Fort Collins, Colorado. The two project teams remained in constant communication during the builds to allow for a fluid transfer of lessons learned, as the two jobsites were about 15 miles away from each other.

The Poudre School District has been faced with the challenge of overcrowding as well as aged facilities. Wellington Middle-High School and Timnath Middle-High School are bringing much-needed relief to the students and faculty and are helping educate and build the surrounding communities. Wellington has a population of just under 10,000 and Timnath has about 4,700 residents, so the new schools will mean growth for the community and are pillars in each city. In fact, the Wellington facility sits on more than 125 acres, which will not only allow this project to be brought in with plenty of space but allows for the future expansion needs of a new elementary school and a new middle school.

Both Wellington Middle-High School and Timnath Middle-High School were not small jobs. Both schools are full of state-of-the-art technology and electrical installation. There is intrusion detection on every door, and while that is standard in new school construction, these security features were not included in the schools they previously attended, improving the daily safety experience for students and staff. There are cameras and security systems in nearly every part of each school, and these are just one type of low-voltage safety, security and fire alarm systems installed.