In the winter of 2015, the Parkway School District of St. Louis began a redevelopment and design process to accommodate the growing Parkway North High School. Updates included reroofing, installing a permeable parking lot and other site construction. The permeable parking lot meets the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District consent decree.
Andrew Franke, landscape architect for Planning Design Studio, worked with the school district to review different permeable surfaces. They eventually settled on the PaveDrain system, despite its higher up-front cost. The permeable paving system is designed with an open joint concept. It does not require aggregate between the joints, which is a long-term, low-maintenance feature that offsets the price.
Weather-related issues caused delays, and the project was in jeopardy of remaining unfinished at the start of the new school year. A benefit of a permeable surface is that when the weather does not cooperate, the aggregate base beneath it is designed for water, so rainfall does not delay construction.
“They were behind when we arrived on site, but we got the base down and compacted in a few days,” said Jared Cothren, president of Custom Hardscapes. “The PaveDrain system came palletized with 11-sq-ft layers and was easy to install. We installed 49,000 sq ft in just seven days with a six-man crew. We were able to lay approximately 13,000 sq ft on our best day with a PaverMAX Probst 301 and a mini excavator with a Probst clamp attached to it.”
