Students at Ridgecrest Elementary School returned from Thanksgiving break to see a large building — a very large building — sitting in the middle of their playground.
After months of pouring piers, a foundation and walls, crews took advantage of students being out of school to erect the walls for the new gymnasium/safe room being built on the west side of the school. Work started last spring and is expected to be completed in August 2026.
Crews from Southern Lifting and Hoisting, Oklahoma City, used a 550-ton crane to lift the 14 30-foot tall panels into place. Each of those 14 panels is 9 ¼-inch thick concrete and weighs 60,000 pounds, according to Levi Griggs, site supervisor with Herring Construction. Once the tall walls were in position, 7 short panels, at 18 feet tall, were moved into place on the south side of the building where the bathrooms and offices will be.
After a day and a half of moving walls into place, welders from Warrior Steel, Norman, moved in to weld the metal plates at the bottom of each wall to the foundation. Once the panels are welded to the foundation, I beams will be welded to metal plates at the top of the walls to secure the facility. That work should begin next week.
Herring Construction, Lawton, is overseeing the project.