With Vision and Purpose, a New K-8 Campus Defies Expectations
Global Leadership Academy Charter School, West Campus—Owner’s Representative

Global Leadership Academy—a highly reputed charter school with two locations—needed a dedicated school building that would consolidate its campuses and give it room to grow. We worked with Dr. Naomi Johnson-Booker and her leadership team to identify a new location to build a state-of-the-art 68,000 SF facility. We engaged a team of contractors, architects and engineers to:

  • Supervise ground-up construction and renovation, beginning with the demolition of most of an existing industrial building
  • Oversee construction of a large addition that included classrooms, a fully equipped gymnasium, cafetorium, technology center, library, computer lab, science lab, and kitchen
  • Manage procurement of all furniture fixture and equipment
  • Implement security, access control and IT infrastructure, including setting up a K-8 mobile computer technology system to support smarter learning

Transformed an industrial warehouse into a coveted academic institution
When Global Leadership Academy opened its doors, the public took notice of the $13.5M facility that was finally in line with the school’s pedagogical aims and programmatic vision. Applications increased significantly and the waiting list for student openings multiplied. Today it remains one of the most sought-after schools in the city of Philadelphia. We continue to work with GLA to make repairs and capital improvements to the building, and the school has continued to teach us about education, systemic challenges and what it takes to build better learning spaces.

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