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The Greene County Public Safety Coordination Center includes offices for the Emergency Operation Center, Multi-Agency Coordination Center, Regional Joint Information Center, multi-use areas, Greene County Information Systems server room, and an alternate EOC of the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency. The structure is designed for LEED Silver Certification with the ability to withstand 250 MPH wind speeds in order to protect mission critical systems.

Check out the latest news on ADG’s Springfield/Greene County Public Safety Coordination Center project.

http://www.news-leader.com/article/20110818/NEWS01/108180343/1007/Center-will-asset-disasters

It took months of digging and pouring concrete below ground level, but now the new Public Safety Center’s skeleton has begun to rise above the horizon.

The center, located near the corner of Campbell Avenue and Nichols Street, is set to open in spring. It will house Springfield-Greene County 911 dispatch and the Office of Emergency Management during normal day-to-day operation.

But during a disaster, the emergency operations center in the basement of the building will be coordinating more than 70 federal, state and local response agencies.

“This is going to be an asset to Southwest Missouri,” Greene County Director of Resource Management Chris Coulter said.

“This is not just for the county.”

The $19.7 million facility is funded through a combination of 911 tax revenue and several grants — including a FEMA grant and several grants for sustainable materials within the building.

The PSC, in addition to being able to withstand EF-5 tornadic winds, was designed to meet LEED silver specifications.

The effort to tornado-proof the structure has meant more than 2,800 cubic yards of concrete poured thus far for the facility, and more is expected, Coulter said.

The building will have windows with specially engineered glass covered by perforated metal sheeting. Although the sheeting will provide wind protection, it still allows light into the building and occupants inside will be able to see out, Coulter said.

Also included in the design is a garage-like area to house the equipment that Emergency Management officials depend on during a disaster. That includes Skylab, a mobile communications vehicle that proved vital in the aftermath of the Joplin tornado in May.

Skylab provided a communications tower for Joplin officials after the tornado destroyed cell phone towers in the area.

The design of the PSC will allow for equipment like Skylab to be stored inside. That way, Coulter said, if a disaster were to happen that required an Emergency Management response, necessary equipment for the teams would be protected.

The project is a few weeks behind because of persistent rain in the spring, but construction crews have made up quite a bit of time with the recent dry spell in the county, Coulter said.

Winter Park, FL (April 27, 2011) – Architects Design Group (ADG) completed the design-build criteria documents for the new 37,500 square foot City of North Port Fleet Maintenance facility located on the corner of Price and Chamberlain Boulevards.

City officials, public works staff, and community representatives gathered to celebrate ground breaking for the new facility on Monday, April 25; and the project is now under construction.

The project has been something the City has been planning for a number of years. Since the early 1980’s, the fleet inventory has increased from 150 vehicles to more than 500 today.

The new facility will provide the City a state-of-the-art Vehicle Service Facility including, 15,000 square feet of office space for the Fleet Division and Public Works Administration, 12 work bays, a vehicle fuel/wash station; and the development of ± 17 acres, with various retention ponds, support infrastructure, utilities, and pavement that provides for future site build-out of the Public Works Department.

The facility is programmed to provide for the current space needs of the Fleet Maintenance Department, with provisions for future expansion to meet the 2025 needs. In the interim, the future expansion space will be utilized by Public Works Administration, to re-locate personnel and equipment from trailers on site into the new storm-hardened facility, where the Department can remain in operation during and after an emergency event.

Architects Design Group, national public safety architects headquartered in Winter Park, Florida recently attended the ribbon cutting for the $15.8 million, 76,000 square foot City of Sanford Public Safety Complex located in Sanford, Florida. The Public Safety Complex is located southwest of Sanford’s Historic Downtown near the Historic Goldsboro Community.

The Public Safety Complex, which joins Sanford’s Police and Fire Departments into a two-story state-of-the-art building, celebrated its grand opening last November in the new exterior Civic Plaza, situated at the prominent corner of the site. The plaza plays an important aspect of the project’s relationship to the surrounding historic neighborhood and provided the perfect setting for building’s dedication. Attendees included elected officials, the city’s Police and Fire chiefs and staff, ADG and design consultants, and the construction management team of Wharton Smith as well as many local residents.

ADG designed both departments as separate facilities that share a two story Atrium, which includes vertical circulation, lobby/reception, a Historic Apparatus Display, and Community Meeting Room that opens onto the Civic Plaza. The fully functioning Police Department will include all the necessary elements required for law enforcement; vehicle evidence processing, emergency services unit vehicle storage, evidence storage, records storage, interview rooms, and a drive through sally port, while the two-story Fire Department is comprised of a five-bay apparatus bay, crew quarters, and a training tower on the first floor and fire administration and emergency operations center on the second floor.

All critical functions of both the Police and Fire Department are contained within the exterior concrete tilt panel walls and hurricane impact glazing, which are designed to withstand 150 mph hurricane force winds. The Public Safety Facility is also designed with 100% backup to all mechanical and electrical systems to provide uninterrupted use of the facility during a catastrophic event.

Public Safety Facilities Planning Seminar

Twice a year Architects Design Group joins The Center for Public Safety, Inc. to host its seminar, “Planning, Funding, and Obtaining New Public Safety, Police, Fire Rescue, Communications and Emergency Operations Centers.”

The next seminar is Thursday, March 24 and Friday, March 25 at the Embassy Suites North in Altamonte Springs, Florida. The two day event includes speakers on a variety of topics including space planning, funding options, construction delivery methods, and building political and community support. Attendees will also attend tours of specialized facilities and received educational materials which can only be obtained at the seminar.

This seminar is a must for any police or fire chief, sheriff, EOC or 911 dispatch directors, elected official or other public sector employee who is contemplating a new or renovated facility within the next 2-5 years.

The information and materials presented will provide “must have” information and a step-by-step plan to assist your department, agency or community in its quest for a new facility.

The seminar is now in its 11th year and has been attended by more than 500 public sector employees from across the United States and the Caribbean basin.

For more information about the seminar, the early registration discount or information on the topics covered, please contact The Center for Public Safety at 407-647-0190 or [email protected].

The Center for Public Safety, Inc. (CPS) is an organization dedicated to grant research, planning, space needs assessments, and facility and site evaluations to assist first responders, including law enforcement, fire / rescue, emergency managers and dispatch services in the process of obtaining new or expanded facilities.

Architects Design Group (ADG), one of the nation’s leading police and EOC architects, offers full-service architectural and planning services for the innovative design of police facilities and emergency operations centers, as well as more than 90 years of combined experience and commitment to the police, emergency operations, and public safety and communications industry.

The operational needs of public safety entities, including law enforcement, fire & emergency medical services, emergency management and emergency communications, require secure, survivable, technologically advanced facilities from which staff can operate.  Operations must be continuous, both in typical times and in times of emergency situations.  The structures that these operations are housed in require what is known as a “survivable” building envelope, which can withstand both natural and man-made catastrophic events.

The exterior roof and wall components of the building, including windows, doors, canopies, roof membrane, lighting, air intake and exhaust vents, etc. must all be able to withstand external forces, such as high winds and impacts associated with storms and explosive blasts.  These structures also need to be located on sites which allow for both secure and non-secure points of access, as well as provide for limited secure buffer zones (known as “stand-off distance” zones).

In addition, there are specialized spaces associated with these operations that require specialized systems, such as security, communications, audio/visual, specialized fire protection, HVAC, and electrical systems, as well as redundant back-up capacity for all of these components to function when primary sources of power, data, heating and cooling are not functioning.  These systems must conform to current code requirements.

When cities, counties, state and federal entities consider their on-going need to update their public safety facilities, they must consider the cost impact of the above requirements. While it is possible to update existing facilities to incorporate these systems and strengthen the exterior building envelope, it is, in most cases, more cost effective to provide for a new facility which incorporates current and, if possible, future systems and space capacity for on-going operations.

New building material technologies, especially for glazing, roofing and coatings are being developed for stronger and more durable building performance.  Technologies continue to evolve for communications & data systems.  Audio/visual systems used for training of personnel have also changed in recent years.  These same systems now allow for a much broader means of connectivity among the public safety / emergency management community and the community at large. All of these improved materials and systems are more easily incorporated into new facilities which allow adequate space and adjacencies for maximizing performance.