Educational projects: what a school or college requires from the construction company
Flow of people, safety, acoustics and a schedule aligned with the academic calendar: what an educational project demands, based on EZA's experience at Marista and SATC.
An educational project is not a commercial building with desks inside. A school or college receives hundreds or thousands of people a day, many of them children and young people, and that changes the design, the worksite and the schedule. We learned this in practice: EZA built the children's wing of Colégio Marista and today is executing SATC's new university wing in Criciúma. In this text, we show what educational projects demand from the construction company, from the flow of people to the deadline matched to the academic calendar.
Why educational projects are different
A school receives every day a volume of people that few commercial projects see. Corridors, stairs, restrooms, and exits need to be sized for the peak, that moment when all the classes change rooms at the same time. In an office building, the flow is distributed throughout the day. In a school, it happens in waves.
This changes design decisions that seem like details: circulation width, the direction doors open, guardrail height, flooring that doesn't slip on a rainy day. And it also changes the safety benchmark, because a good share of the users are children and teenagers. Escape route, fire prevention and accessibility and standards stop being a checklist item and become the heart of the project.
The deadline belongs to the school calendar, not the construction company
In an educational project, the deadline has an owner: the start of the semester. There is no negotiating with the school year. If the new wing needs to receive students, the entire schedule is built backward from that date, with slack for the unexpected, because falling behind here does not just mean a fine, it means a class without a room.
At the new university block of SATC, in Criciúma, we work exactly under this regime: short deadlines and a high level of demand. It is about 4,500 m² across four floors, with a precast structure, a choice that speeds up the structural phase and gives more predictability to the schedule. The alignment meetings happen inside the construction site, defining the schedule and work fronts with the team that is executing, not in a room far from the project.
A construction site coexisting with classes next door
Building inside an institution that keeps operating is a different game. The site must be truly isolated, with clear signage and collective protection, because on the other side of the hoarding students, teachers and parents are circulating. At SATC, we maintain proper use of PPE, signage and collective protection on every floor. It is not bureaucracy, it is the condition for the project to exist there.
When we built the children's wing of Colégio Marista, the bar rose even higher: an educational project aimed at small children allows no middle ground on safety. On this type of site, noisy work happens within an agreed time window, material deliveries avoid arrival and departure hours, and the logistics are aligned with the institution's management throughout the entire project.
- Complete physical separation between the construction site and student circulation areas
- Noise and dust concentrated in time windows agreed with the management
- Truck and unloading outside the arrival and departure hours
Acoustics, comfort and systems that need to work
A classroom is a listening environment. If the teacher's voice reverberates or the sound from the next room crosses the wall, the new building is born with a problem. That is why acoustics enter the design early: sealing between rooms, the choice of window frames, a ceiling that controls reverberation. Fixing this once the building is finished is expensive and rarely turns out well.
A college adds another layer: laboratories. The block we built at SATC will house laboratories, meeting rooms and teaching spaces, and each laboratory calls for its own electrical, plumbing and data installation. It is the kind of project where design coordination makes an enormous difference. We overlay structure, installations and architecture before building, so that the conflict shows up on the computer, not on the slab. Anyone starting to plan will find more about this at commercial project design.
What matters when choosing the construction company
An educational project is usually contracted by a governing foundation, administration or board, people who will answer to an entire community. At that table, promises count for little. What holds the decision up is proven experience in this type of project, an in-house engineering team and a schedule that stands up both on paper and on the job site.
EZA has been building in Criciúma since 1991 and has educational projects in its portfolio: the children's block at Colégio Marista, delivered, and the university block at SATC, under construction, with the framing completed and floor laying underway in June 2026. It's the kind of experience you only gain by doing. For those who want to see the rest of the portfolio of commercial and institutional projects you will find a hotel, clinic, shop and office built in the region.
Schools and colleges demand a rare combination from the construction company: the technical rigor of an institutional project, the care to coexist with classes happening next door, and a schedule that respects the academic calendar. That was the case at the Marista children's block and it's the case today at the SATC university block. If your educational institution is planning to build or expand, and you want to understand better how to choose the construction company for a commercial project, reach out to us on WhatsApp (48) 99191-2018 or write to [email protected]. On the site eza.com.br you can get to know the projects we've already delivered in Criciúma and region.
Frequently asked questions
Does the school need to suspend classes during construction?
In most cases, no. With an isolated site, signage, collective protection and noisy work concentrated in time windows agreed with the management, the institution's routine keeps running. What you can't do is handle this coexistence off the cuff: it has to be planned into the scheduling and logistics of the site from day one.
How long does an educational project take?
It depends on the size, the complexity and what already exists on the site. A block with a precast structure, like the one EZA is building at SATC, gains speed in the structural phase, but a serious timeline only appears after evaluating the complete project. What differs from other projects is the starting point: the schedule is built backwards, from the academic calendar.
Has EZA already built schools and universities?
Yes. EZA built the children's block of Colégio Marista and is carrying out the new university block for SATC, in Criciúma, with about 4,500 m² across four floors and a precast structure, which will house laboratories, meeting rooms and teaching spaces. The company has been operating since 1991 on residential, commercial and institutional projects in the region.
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