Hillcrest Elementary School is a 70,140 SF, 2-story new replacement school to service 600 students. Envision worked carefully as an integral member of the design team to safely facilitate construction of the new school in the adjacent playing fields while the old, existing school remained operational.

Envision was also called upon for expertise to meet the high energy efficiency goals for the project. Working closely with the design team, Envision’s design included highly efficient LED lighting throughout. In addition, Envision designed the school to easily accommodate photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof of the building to further reduce energy costs, if desired in the future.

The result of the overall energy-saving design measures by the team—including architectural material choices, HVAC design, and electrical design—has reduced the annual operating costs to approximately 37 cents per square foot—a significant savings (most newer schools operate at over 98 cents per square foot). Should the District invest in future PV panel installation, annual operating costs are projected to be approximately 17 cents per square foot.