Manchester Memorial Elementary School

Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA

Manchester-Essex Regional School District’s new Manchester Memorial Elementary School is complete and welcomed students at the end of 2021. The new 77,000-sf space, built to replace the existing building from 1951, was constructed in phases on while the students & faculty occupied the existing building. The use of natural resources and colors reflects the surrounding environment of marsh lands and the ocean.  

Samiotes provided services throughout all the MSBA modules for the new Elementary School. The site was challenging in permitting due to the parcel being bounded by Riverfront, wetlands, intermittent stream, and floodplain on 3 sides. In addition to meeting the compensatory stage storage for work within the FEMA flood plain, the Town of Manchester had prepared its own flood study whose flood elevations were higher than the FEMA elevations, which the design had to accommodate. The approvals required that the design addressed peak runoff and water quality throughout various phases of construction for the project, more stringent of a requirement than required by MassDEP under the Wetlands Protection Act. The stormwater management system features an advanced infiltration system, roughly the size of the schools’ parking lot, bioswales, and a rain garden.