December Update

December was off to a good start with the construction team working its way out of the wet November. The roof trusses for the library and part of the Lower School were set; the concrete for the second floor of the Middle School was placed; and the brick work on the dinning hall had begun. Then came December 19. Along with the rest of Charlottesville, the jobsite was hammered with 22 inches of snow. English had men on site on Monday to begin plowing the roads at the Lower School. Once access to the jobsite was reopened, the subcontractors who could get out of their own homes arrived on site ready to work. Unfortunately, most had to shovel snow for days to access their respected areas of the jobsite. A week of progress was lost due to the blizzard of 2009.

November Update

November 2009 was the fourth wettest November in 75 years. This had ill effects on the construction site. Concrete placements, site work (earth-moving), and masonry work were all negatively effected. Though time was lost due to weather, we were still able to get started on the brick work on the outside of the theater building. The second floor in the elementary school wing and the north end of the first floor of the Middle School wing were placed. Structural steel was erected in Middle School along with the support system for the second floor.

October Update

The workforce in October concentrated on finishing the foundation work for the Middle School wing, erecting second-story theater walls, and laying stone on the Conway Convocation Center entrance road retaining wall. The stone retaining wall along the backside of the outfield fence was completed using a West Virginia Field Stone.

September Update

September brought very good working conditions: long sunny days and warm temperatures. English and their workforce were able to achieve three main accomplishments. First, we completed the Field Turf girls' lacrosse field. Next, the geothermal vault was buried. This is a distribution hub where all of piping that runs through the 140 geothermal wells is consolidated into one pipe leading into the building. Finally, AG Dilliard installed a temporary parking lot across the street from the lacrosse field to accommodate parking for construction vehicles and football and lacrosse parking.

Summer Construction Update

Recent visitors to the lower campus will notice the vast amount of progress that builders have made this summer at the site of the Learning Village. In addition to the completion of our new turf field, 110 wells were dug as part of the geothermal HVAC systetm, and a 75,000 gallon cistern was installled ot capture roof runoff. As the foundation for our new building rises, so too does our excitement! For a live view of the construction site, please click here.

So what's with all the dirt?

Driving by the lower campus, many of you have noticed the large mound of dirt at the construction site. So, what’s with all the dirt? Well, we’re glad you asked. Quite a bit of dirt must be removed from the site as the hill where the old Head’s House once stood needs to be lowered about 8 - 10 feet in preparation for the new building. The dirt will not be needed as fill in any other area of the construction site, so it needs to go somewhere. The University of Virginia has agreed to allow us to move the dirt from the construction site to their property across the road. Moving dirt sounds easy, but it’s not that simple. If you fill dirt on top of the grass and vegetation, it will start to decompose thereby leaving a void. To avoid the void, you must first remove the top layer of the soil (including grass and vegetation) and pile it to the side. That is the great mound you see now. Once all the dirt has been moved, you replace the top layer including vegetation on top to reseed and replant the area.

What exactly is going on at the Lower Campus right now?

Do you have a specific question about what's happening at the Lower Campus? Post your questions here by adding comments to posts. We're happy to entertain any questions, and we share in your excitement as we watch the construction progress weekly.

LIVE Webcam Launched!

View the construction of the new Learning Village as it happens! With a new photo taken every 15 minutes, you can see each and every detail of the construction process as it progresses. At the completion of the project, we will have a full-length, stop-action animated sequence showing the entire construction sequence from start to finish. Click here to go directly to the Real-time Webcam site!

Breaking Ground

St. Anne's-Belfield School is quickly approaching the ground-breaking phase on its 105,000 square foot Pre-school through 8th grade Learning Village. After receiving full approval from the Board of Trustees and the Albemarle Economic Development Authority, the school recently secured $30 million in bond financing to be used for construction costs. Underwritten by SunTrust Bank, this financial endorsement of our long-term vision is a testament to the school's fiscal strength.

With funds secured and final approvals granted, construction on the Village is slated to begin in January 2009. The school's most ambitious building project in its nearly 100-year history, this Village is scheduled to be completed in time for the start of classes in the fall of 2010.

Welcome to our blog!

This blog is designed to keep you posted on construction progress relating to the St. Anne's-Belfield School's new Pre-School - 8th Grade Learning Village, which will be located at the school's lower campus.

Below, you'll find a brief timeline of the project's progress thus far. Check back soon for updates, and we'll be adding a real time web cam in the near future. You can see the construction progress for yourself!

Project Timeline:

2003 Spring - Board of Trustees adopts new strategic plan, which calls for increasing size of the endowment and improving & expanding facilities.

2004 Spring - Bowie-Gridley Architects complete campus master plan.

2006 July - David Lourie begins his tenure as Head of School. November - Board of Trustees approves the Campaign for Our Next Century, the largest fund-raising effort in our school’s history.

2007 September - Board approves Vision Statement, including plans for tripling our endowment, constructing a new Learning Village on the lower campus, and creating a Center for the Arts & Sciences on the upper campus.

2008 August - Albemarle County Board of Supervisors approves special use application to build Learning Village. October - Preliminary site work andHead’s House deconstruction completed. November - Architectural Review Board approves Learning Village project and English Construction awarded construction contract. December - Bond financing secured to fund the construction of the new Learning Village.