Ramtech has continued to build on its success in the public school sector by securing a new $1.9 million contract to provide four new modular cafeteria buildings to the Aldine Independent School District in Houston, Texas. Totaling 41,216 square feet, two modular buildings will be installed at both Nimitz and MacArthur High Schools for use as interim facilities while the renovation of the existing cafeterias takes place. Ramtech will begin the manufacturing phase of the modular construction project prior to the end of February, and will commence the site activities at the beginning of March. We expect to complete the project by April 12th, which will give Aldine ISD ample time to prepare the facilities to begin food service to their students by May 1st.
Because of the urgency and short lead time required to get the project started, the School District opted to purchase both buildings using Ramtech’s contract with the Texas Association of School Boards’ BuyBoard Purchasing Cooperative. This allowed them to shorten the length of time which would have been required in a conventional bidding process, and helped facilitate the overall purchasing phase. 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 have been designed for secondary utilization as double-wide portable classroom buildings. To accomplish this, the Type V wood frame buildings will use a factory applied 29-guage 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 will incorporate vinyl covered gypsum walls, along with an Armstrong Corlon rolled heavy-duty sheet vinyl on the floors to accommodate the high traffic use. Each of the facilities will have a full commercial kitchen, space for four food serving lines, and ample seating in the dining areas. With two modular cafeterias at each location, once the buildings are installed, the steps, ramps, and landings will be built to connect the facilities to each other while providing access to the existing structures.
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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.
