When considering a new site for a school building always keep in mind the utilities that are available to the site. Most sites have electricity nearby but find out from your power company if single phase or if three phase power is readily available. Your school will need three phase power to effectively handle the electrical load. Single phase will work, but will be more costly for the conductors, the electrical panels and switch gear.
Another cost savings will be if natural gas is available to the site. Generally speaking utilizing natural gas to heat your school is more cost effective than electricity. This is not true if you are considering a geo thermal mechanical system however. Engaging a mechanical engineer to study the cost differential of the air conditioning and heating systems will tell you if utilizing natural gas is the most cost effective for your site. The distance to connect the gas line to the main will have a major impact on your cost comparison. The main line may simply be too far to connect and cost too much to run a line to serve your school. This is a cost that the school would pick up, the utility company will not pay for the extension of the gas line.
Check to see if the site is within city limits and can be served with water and sanitary sewer. If you are outside of the city limits you may still be within the city ETJ (extra territorial jurisdiction). This is the area just outside of cities that will eventually be annexed into the city. Some or all of the ETJ may have water and sanitary sewer service. If you are in a rural area there is most likely a water district that will have the services available. If not, you would have to provide the school a water source such as a well and sewer service of septic tanks and leach fields for smaller buildings or full treatment plants for larger schools. These would be governed by the local water district or county.
Effective planning for the utilities to your site will let you know up front what the cost impact will be on your overall budget. You can't afford to wait until the construction has started to bring utilities to your site. Start the process early in the planning phase as it takes time to bring the needed utilities to your site.
Michael King AIA
I agree that we need someone who can Tell us what buildings are need much power of electricity, so we can save some power for the other buildings not only spend it anywhere,we will save money if we do that also. ( hadi alkhamsan- ranger college )
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