El Reno Campus Tornado Reconstruction

On May 31, 2013, one of the largest tornadoes ever recorded in Oklahoma directly hit the Canadian Valley Technology Center (CVTech), El Reno campus. Willowbrook arrived at CVTech shortly after the storm passed to assess the damage and help the school relocate classrooms and technology to other facilities. Willowbrook has been the construction manager for CVTech for over 20 years. The El Reno campus consisted of nine buildings — only two were not totally destroyed by the tornado, and the project began with salvaging those structures.

Willowbrook broke ground on Nov. 6, 2014, to start reconstruction of the El Reno campus. The only remaining parts of the first salvageable building were the slab, steel columns and roof structure. The reconstructed building is now home to new district administration offices, a boardroom and a breakroom which doubles as a safe room, along with adult-only classes such as practical nursing and the PIVOT program. This fast-track project was completed in April 2015.

The second building with a salvageable structure now has more than 230,000 square feet of new administrative offices, an event center, and shops for welding, auto body and auto service, along with space for HVAC, electrical and construction trades, diesel technology, and precision machining. Willowbrook constructed new buildings in place of seven that were destroyed, creating new classroom learning environments for cosmetology, computer systems, practical nursing and health careers, graphic design, business office and medical office. A new child development center and five multi-purpose tornado safe rooms for 1,300 people were also included, along with four additional storm shelters providing approximately 5,700 square feet of usable space.