Education
Watson Mountain Middle School J2 Project Location: Loudoun County, Virginia Project Start Date: 1 August 2022 Project Completion: 1 August 2024 Project Team: Owner - Loudoun County Public Schools, Civil Engineer/Landscape, Architect - J2, Architect - Stantec, Contractor - Shockey Project Background: This $111M project delivered a new 211,000 gsf middle school and associated parking, bus loop, and supporting athletic fields on a fast track process. The school, the 100th for the school system, has a capacity for 1,445 students. It is named for the community that it is located in, which was once home to one of the largest populations of free blacks in Loudoun County. This is the first 4-story school for Loudoun County Public Schools. The building was sited on the side of a hill to take advantage of site topography while also adhering to the building height requirements in the agriculture zoning district that it is located in. A master planning process was used to site 3 schools on the property and to study the earthwork necessary to develop and access all 3 schools. Impact: The school supports the local community. It's need stems from overcrowding at a nearby school. The school will initially open with 540 sixth graders and it will eventually include grades 6 through 8. The master plan for the campus that the middle school is located on carefully considered wetlands impacts and rock conditions in the layout. Utilities needed to be extended to the site and the alignments had to carefully work around wetland and floodplain areas while also avoiding adjacent rural policy area property where central water/sewer is not permitted. Road improvements were also required to improve intersection performance and safety in the vicinity of the school. One of the turn lanes resulted in the need to extend a box culvert, triggering the need to perform a floodplain alteration.
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