Montgomery County Shared Municipal Facility

Foit-Albert Associates, as a subconsultant, was retained to develop architectural drawings and construction phase services for the development of a new government office facility to be shared by the County’s Department of Public Works and the Montgomery County Business Development Center. Business development uses that are intended to market County locations to prospective private businesses required functional separation from the heavy equipment laden DPW uses, while maintaining the construction and operational efficiencies of colocation.

Scope:  Foit-Albert’s scope included schematic design, design development, construction documents, bidding and construction phase services.

Project Details: Montgomery County’s existing facilities were out of date, well-used and not code compliant.  After discussions with both end-users in the DPW and Business Development Center, Foit-Albert developed a program for both offices, storage, employee lockers and break room, the highway garage, vehicle repair and maintenance, indoor vehicle wash bay and parts, tire and fluids storage.  Foit-Albert performed all code evaluations for this shared facility.  The result is a 35,000 square foot pre-engineered shared facility with functional updates to project a modern, forward thinking and inviting facility to attract new businesses to the region.

Challenge/Solution: The County’s original program required a 46,000-square-foot facility would have cost $15 million, going over the county’s budget.  Careful review of the program, identification of shared spaces and incremental reductions in transitional spaces, offices and meeting areas needed a reduction in square footage without compromise to the intended functions. The building was reconfigured to 35,000 square feet, yet still provided the county with everything it had in the original plans, and within the $10 million budget.