Some kids feel nervous or a little scared on the first day of school because of all the new things: new teachers, new friends, and the kids at York Preparatory Academy in Rock Hill, SC even got a new school this year.

The mission of the York Preparatory Academy (YPA) is for the faculty, staff, students, parents, and community to provide an engaged learning environment that leads to the success of each individual student. While also challenging these students to become life-long learners, independent thinkers, respectful individuals, and responsible citizens thus preparing them for a 21st century global economy.

YPA is living their mission by developing a new campus while school remains in session.  While evaluating construction options that would allow them to achieve this goal and provide a safe secure environment with the least amount of disruption, YPA turned to Citadel Contractors and Tilt-Up Construction.

Utilizing tilt-up construction for educational facilities just makes sense.  The facilities have a much lower life cycle cost because they take advantage of the durability and longevity of concrete.  In addition, there are no design limitations; anything you can form, you can pour.  This flexibility allows designers to put the mark of the community on the facility.  Concrete provides a safe, secure environment for our children during the school day and can be utilized as emergency shelters in times of natural disaster or crisis.  The mass effect of the concrete allows the facility to economically maintain a steady temperature for human comfort that provides for maximum learning and greatly reduces the possibility of mold/mildew.  Tilt-up is the fastest form of construction from conception to completion which prevents long term disruption on the campus.

Citadel mobilized in December 2011 and completed their scope of work in May of 2012.  That’s just five short months on site.  There were 200 tilt-up panels formed, poured and erected during that time.  The widest panel was 45’ 11” wide and 39’3” tall, with the heaviest panel weighing in at 109.33K.  Citadel utilized a Liebherr LR 1300 crawler crane to do the lifting.

Academic Director, Dr. Carlos Grant has this to say, “It is exciting to see the new campus develop. The campus has the Elementary School, Middle School, Student Union Center and ample parking. We are starting to develop the athletic fields, and the High School is scheduled to break ground in mid-October.”

Tilt-up construction & continuous learning go hand and hand as the processes evolve to meet the needs of owners and provide state of the art facilities while minimizing construction schedules.