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Architects Design Group Designs Sanford Public Safety Complex

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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.

SUNRISE PUBLIC SAFETY COMPLEX NEAR COMPLETION

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The 132,000 SF, five-story City of Sunrise Public Safety Complex is nearing completion. National police architects, Architects Design Group, and the design team, performed multiple punch walkthroughs to assist the Construction Manager to close out all remaining construction issue to the satisfaction of the City and the users. The project achieved substantial completion on February 14, 2011.

The facility includes a tactical 8-lane Firing Range; and the installation has been completed and the shooting range is open for training to the Police force. Also included in this state-of-the-art facility is the 911 Communications Center, which is currently being furnished with specialty work stations and equipment that will serve as the Joint-use Broward County/City of Sunrise 911 Public Safety Answering Point.

One of the most important components of the Public Safety Complex is the Central Energy Plant that provides 100% redundancy to all critical infrastructure components. The plant accommodates two emergency generators and a fuel tank with a minimum of 72-hour capacity at full load. The chiller plant, located within this hurricane protected structure, is fully operational and is currently providing air conditioning to the entire complex.

The two-story, 18,000 SF, Fire Station #72 is 90% completed. The major components and equipment in this building have been installed. The specialty millwork installation is on-going and finishes are almost completed.

The final completion of the complex is scheduled for the end of March 2011 and Stiles Construction, the Construction Manager, is diligently working to achieve the deadline with the best quality of work and materials selected for the project.

Architects Design Group would like to thank the City of Sunrise for having afforded us with their trust to design and oversee the construction of this $32.5 million dollar state-of-the-art Public Safety complex.

We would also like to recognize the expertise of our design team:

  • TLC Engineering for Architecture (MEP, Security and Technology)
  • TRC Worldwide Engineering (Structural)
  • Architecture Dynamics (Associate Architects for Fire Station #72)
  • Urban Resource Group, a division of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc. (Landscape Architects)
  • Sun-Tech Engineering (Civil)

Public Safety Facilities Planning Seminar

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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 info@centerforpublicsafety.org.

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.

ADG Completes Programming and Master Plan of City of Fort Myers Fire Station No.1 and Administration Facility

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ADG has completed programming and master planning services for the City of Ft. Myers three-story fire station and administration facility. The new 30,000 SF facility will meet current and future (2025) needs, and is to include a fully staffed Fire Station No. 1 and central operations for Fire Administration and Fire Prevention. The new facility will greatly enhance the City’s public safety and emergency disaster preparedness.

The consolidation of Fire Administration and Fire Prevention services with Fire Station No. 1 will achieve economies in construction and enhance the efficiency of operations and personnel.  Fire Station No. 1 will effectively serve as the central fire station for the department, providing training, equipment maintenance functions, and material storage.

The new facility will provide a multi-purpose classroom on the first floor which can accommodate personnel from the entire department as well as smaller break out meetings and training sessions.  This location also serves to provide a flexible and secure community meeting space.

The station is proposed as a five-bay drive-through arrangement, housing apparatus to serve Station No.1 and the storage of reserve apparatus. As a critical facility, the construction systems will be designed to survive a Category 5 hurricane, and will be equipped with an emergency generator and on-site fuel storage located above flood elevation.  Gas and diesel fueling for apparatus is also provided.

ADG is committed to sustainable architecture and the project will seek LEED Silver certification from the USGBC. The master site plan development considers the preservation of existing open space and mature vegetation, on-site stormwater retention, and the redevelopment of an existing parking area and building pad location for the requirements of the new facility, to minimize further impacts beyond the existing impervious footprint.

The facility will be provided with water conserving and metered fixtures, and automated building systems controls for lighting and HVAC. Energy efficient construction is to include thermally efficient glazing assemblies and envelope design, solar shading, and the installation of a “cool” roof. Flexibility to accommodate the future provision of integrated photovoltaic systems and other on-site renewable energy systems is a further design consideration.

Public Safety Facilities – Providing for New and Updated Facilities

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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.