Ramtech has now completed the four new modular cafeteria buildings originally ordered in February of this year for the Houston-area Aldine Independent School District. Together totaling 41,216 square feet, two modular buildings were installed at the District’s Nimitz and MacArthur High Schools for use as interim facilities while the renovation of each school’s existing cafeterias are taking place.
Ramtech began the manufacturing phase of the $1.9 million modular construction project prior to the end of February and started the site activities during the first part of March. Since the buildings were completed, Aldine ISD began providing food service to their students prior to the end of the school year and will continue to do so through-out their summer program.
Because of the urgency and short lead time required to get the project started, the School District opted to purchase both buildings using the Texas Association of School Boards’ BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative. This allowed them to significantly shorten the procurement time frame which would have been required using a conventional bidding process.
Aldine ISD plans to use the four modular cafeteria buildings for approximately six months or until the renovations of the existing permanent facilities are complete. In order to make the project as cost effective as possible, the modular buildings were designed to be divided into double-wide sections for use as portable classroom buildings once they are no longer needed as cafeterias. To accomplish this, the Type V wood frame buildings have a factory applied 29-gauge R-panel metal siding on the exterior, with 5-ton wall-mounted air conditioning units located along each of the side walls where the modular buildings will be divided.
The interiors of the buildings have been finished with vinyl covered gypsum walls, along with an Armstrong Corlon rolled heavy-duty sheet vinyl on the floors to accommodate a high traffic use. Each of the facilities feature a full commercial kitchen, space for four food serving lines, and ample seating in the dining areas. With two modular cafeterias at each location, steps, ramps, and landings had to be built in order to connect the facilities to each other and to the existing campus structures.
________________________________________________________________________________
Sabrina Queen works in Business Development for Ramtech Building Systems, serving the needs of the education market with temporary classroom facilities. She has been in the modular building industry for over 20 years.
