Like many school facilities, Clover Street School has been added to and renovated over time.

The older portions of the building were constructed before there were handicapped accessibility requirements in the building code and do not comply with the current standards. The fire code for existing buildings has also evolved over time, and contains provisions that have not been implemented at the school. The facility has been well maintained and has had many significant improvements in life safety measures and universal accessibility.
This study identifies instances of non-compliance with fire and accessibility code provisions, primarily. With regard to handicapped accessibility, several options are illustrated. Cost projections are provided for each scenario. Option A describes compliance improvements that can be made within the existing building envelope. Due to the floor space required to provide maneuvering and plumbing fixture clearances, there is some loss of existing usable space, but this is relatively minor.

Clover Street School was constructed with exterior covered walkways connecting the classroom wings to the portion of the school containing administrative offices, specialized facilities, and assembly spaces. Option B is more speculative than Option A, showing a way to connect all of the school’s spaces with an interior corridor. It is based on the assumption that the proposed new HVAC design would allow one mechanical room to serve every eight-classroom wing. The construction of new fully enclosed corridors in place of some of the existing covered walkways creates the opportunity to build additional new space, some of which is needed to replace classroom space used to create new corridors. The balance of the potential new space can be used to provide offices, small instructional spaces, or accessible multiple-occupant lavatories.

Option C is a more modest version of Option B, in which all of the existing mechanical rooms continue to serve that function. Existing classrooms are unaffected, but only three of the six classroom quads would be connected to the rest of the building by an interior corridor. The opportunity to create new additional spaces is the same as Option B.

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