School | Bay Farm Montessori Academy
Project | New Build: Pre-K & kindergarten, visual arts & music programs
Location | Duxbury MA
Completed | 2004

Bay Farm Montessori Academy – Children’s House Project

Experience

Callahan/Hoffman built the new 10,000 square foot Children’s House building at Bay Farm Montessori Academy in Duxbury, MA. The building had suffered a significant fire resulting in the demolition of the center portion of the building. We secured the site immediately and performed selective demolition while plans were developed. BFMA was in the midst of a master plan so they engaged the architect to begin construction drawings for the new Children’s House. During the estimating phase Callahan/Hoffman determined that significant savings could be had by changing the structure of the building from structural steel to a wood framed building resulting in over $250,000 of value engineering. We worked with the architect and school staff to incorporate the programmatic needs of the teachers and the Montessori philosophy. We proceeded on a very collaborative basis with BFMA evaluating everything from mechanical systems to finish selection to ensure each dollar was maximized.

The Children’s House project was in the center of campus surrounded by the main driveway, the Performing Arts building, the Administration building and the playground on the lower level. Significant care was given to develop a safety program that maintained campus flow, incorporated the construction into the curriculum and provided absolute safety. Safety fences with designated viewing areas and rerouting of vehicle and pedestrian traffic were successfully implemented and we are proud to say there were zero incidents during this and all of our projects.

Value Engineering
For the Children’s house project at BFMA we saved the school over $250,000 by evaluating the structure and recommending a change from structural steel to a wood framed building.