New building coming to The Haverford School

LOWER MERION >> The Lower Merion Board of Commissioners could give the final approval Wednesday night to a tentative sketch plan that would demolish a portion of a two-story building and replace it with a larger building on the campus of the Haverford School.

The plan received positive reviews from both the Lower Merion Planning Commission at its Oct. 1 meeting and then again at the Oct. 10 meeting of the building and planning committee. That leaves only the board of commissioners to vote on the plan Wednesday night.

At the Oct. 10 meeting, Chris Leswing, director of building and planning for Lower Merion, described the project as a modernization for an existing building in the center of the school’s campus.

Under the plan, the school wants to demolish the 8,162-square-foot footprint of the two-story section of Crossman Hall and replace it with a new building that is three stories in height with an 11,197-square-foot footprint.

According to Leswing, the building dates back to the early 1950s, and over time, education has changed. Now, the school is looking to modernize that structure so that new technology can be added.

“[The project] has been really sensitively designed to fit into the existing campus. It’s had a lot of work on it to make sure it fits in for circulation, connectivity to the other buildings and respect for the historic resources on the campus,” Leswing said as he outlined school’s plan for the project.

The school will also install an underground stormwater management system and improve the internal walkways and patio areas that are adjacent to the new building. This will result in a reduction by nearly 3,000 square feet of impervious surface and include 2,312 square feet of porous paving.

The other thing the school will be doing is to add a modular building over the existing tennis courts that will be used during construction. Since that part of the campus is in Haverford Township, it does not need Lower Merion’s approval.

School officials also plan on seeking LEED certification, according to officials.

“The school is pursuing LEED for the project, and it will probably include a green roof and other systems,” said Maarten I. Pesch, with WRT, the school’s architect.

Commissioner Anthony Stevenson said the school has worked with the surrounding community in the leadup to getting the township’s approval.

“They have reached out to the community several times during this whole process,” Stevenson said. “As the architect said, they are going to be working toward LEED certified and [Headmaster] Dr. [John] Nagl has been very proactive to be in front of sharing and being a good neighbor, so I would hope you would support this.”