Construction Update: Steel Going up for New Kingwood Middle School

In 2018, Humble ISD voters approved a $575 million bond referendum. One of the projects involves a complete rebuild of Kingwood Middle School with an open, airy feeling; much larger classrooms; and unlike the old school, a large detention pond. Three years later, it’s starting to look real. I took all photos below on March 21, 2021.

*Framing of a new building with steel. This is when you can see plans on paper start to come to life for the first time.* *Looking west toward Woodland Hills Drive.*

*Looking north toward the middle part of the new site. Construction is moving in this direction. Those green boxes are where concrete piers will eventually support steel columns* that, in turn, support the weight of the building.

*At the southeast end of the site, a temporary detention pond holds runoff from the construction site. Eventually, contractors will replace it with a permanent detention pond farther to the west.*

This Google Earth photo taken months ago, shows the new middle school going in where the playing fields used to be north of the existing school. When the new building is complete, it will be torn down and the playing fields will be relocated where the existing building is now.

The new middle school’s design incorporates the concept of Kingwood’s “Livable Forest,” using ample amounts of natural light to combine interior and exterior spaces into a cohesive learning environment. There will be more space for collaboration, integrated physical activity and movement. Classrooms will be about 200 square feet larger. Car and bus drop-off and pick-up have also been optimized to relieve traffic on the neighboring streets.

Target opening: start of the 2022 school year. So we still have another year of construction. But I’m sure the result will be well worth any inconvenience.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 3/22/2021

1301 Days since Hurricane Harvey

You might also like