Cumming Delivers Four New Charleston County School District Facilities

CHARLESTON, S.C. – (Nov. 12, 2013) – Cumming, an international project management and cost consulting firm, announced today that it has partnered with Charleston County School District (CCSD) to successfully deliver four separate CCSD educational facilities after 34 months from conception to completion. The successful on-time completion allowed local students to move back to their original campuses for the start of the 2013-2014 school year as promised in 2010.

Awarded the CCSD Phase III contract in 2010, Cumming provided construction program management services and logistics/move management support for the $91 million in recently completed work within budget. Funded by the local Capital Projects Building Program and Federal Qualified School Construction Bond (QSCB), 1,800 students were able to return to Buist Academy, Charleston Progressive Academy, Memminger Elementary School and Community Montessori School campuses by the first day of school.

“Since day one the District made a promise to the community that it would ‘Relocate, Rebuild, Return’ and it was our job to make sure that these facilities were ready for students before the first day of school,” said William D. Wiseman, Managing Principal at Cumming.

Cumming addressed a number of challenges during the development and renovation of these schools, from historic preservation and condensed urban sites to several significant structural safety issues in order to deliver the schools within the aggressive timeline. The four schools completed this summer include:

• Buist Academy – A new 86,800-square-foot, three-story facility was constructed to accommodate growth, while the original historic 1920 building’s structure and interior was completely modernized. The new facility has a capacity for 500 K-8 students and includes 27 teaching stations, a cafeteria, gymnasium, media center, science and art spaces.

• Charleston Progressive Academy – For this project, a significant portion of the old school was demolished, while the historical portion of the facility remained and received a complete structure and interior renovation. New construction included a kitchen/cafeteria, a multi‐purpose room and media center. Total renovation and the new building areas amount to 76,200 square feet for a 500-student K-5 capacity.

• Memminger Elementary School – This project included the complete demolition of the original seismically unstable Memminger Elementary School and construction of a brand new 500-student K-5, 78,100-square-foot replacement facility on the same campus.

• Community Montessori School – The new 33,100-square-foot, state‐of‐the‐art school includes a media center, computer labs, multi‐purpose room, art and music room. This 300-student program shares the Springfield Elementary School campus.

Since its inception in 1989 as a construction management firm specializing in the education sector of South Carolina, Cumming, formerly Southern Management Group, has provided services to more than 30 school districts in the state with a total combined volume of nearly $5 billion. For nearly two decades, Cumming has partnered with districts, school boards, designers, teachers, students, and superintendents to deliver exceptional educational environments for this and future generations. On a national level, Cumming has provided project and cost management services on more than $10 billion in educational work.

For more information about Cumming and past projects, please visit: www.ccorpusa.com