Hunnewell Elementary School

VERTEX managed the Feasibility study for the replacement of the Wellesley Hunnewell Elementary School which was part of a larger masterplan involving the consolidation of three schools to two. The study concluded with a preferred option of two schools, each to house approx 365 students. The primary challenge of the study was to keep the school on its current, constrained site and manage a swing space solution to house students during construction as well as parking solutions. Vertex completed this work under two separate contracts, one project direct to the Town and one thru the MSBA program.

Currently, VERTEX is managing the construction phase of the new Kindergarten–5th grade Hunnewell Elementary School. The new school will house 365 students and offer STEAM Lab, Gymnasium, Art, Music and Media Centers to support all students. This project includes Wellesley Public School’s Therapeutic Learning Center (TLC) program. The TLC program is an academic and therapeutic program for students who have difficulty with social problem solving, inadequate conflict resolution skills, ongoing inability to maintain safety with self/others, and/or are behaviorally or emotionally dysregulated and have significant difficulty accessing the general education classroom. The building has been designed to be net zero ready, including an all-electric mechanical system and a planned photovoltaic array on the roof. There will be no natural gas on this project, but there will be a diesel generator to support the all-electric mechanical systems in the event of a power outage. The landscape will include new playground and walking paths that lead to adjacent network of brook paths in Town.