Forest Park (Ill.) district will reinforce gym walls at middle school

From The Forest Park Review: Forest Park (Ill.) School District 91 will spend $337,000 to reinforce the gym walls at Forest Park Middle School with horizontal steel beams. The board voted to make the repairs after a review of the 25-year-old design concluded that the structural integrity of the walls was questionable. The review found that the gym walls are significantly thinner than they ought to be. Exterior walls of that height are usually at least 14 inches thick, but walls at the middle school gym are only 10 inches thick. The structure itself is supported by steel framing, so the walls are not bearing the weight of the school's roof, but the masonry is cracking and bowing and, if left alone, could collapse. The architect who conducted the review is STR Partners.