Balfour Beatty Construction has been selected by Kern County to design and construct a new $100.5m addition to the Kern County Justice Facility, located in Bakersfield, California, US.
The 215,000ft² facility will house three medium-security housing units, with approximately 100 cells each.
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It will also comprise one maximum security mental health / special housing unit, with 104 cells, four housing control rooms, attorney visiting booths, treatment, recreation, administrative, and educational / vocational programme space.
Said to be part of the larger county-owned Lerdo Detention Facility sitem, the 24-plus acre project scope includes the design and construction of housing and support facilities for 822 inmates, including a central plant for heating and cooling.
Development of the project site also includes security fencing, utility systems, new electrical service and distribution systems, and pedestrian walkways.
The scope of the project will also include staff and visitor parking, roadway realignment, a new entry guard house, landscaping, and site lighting.
The project is expected to create 350 to 400 jobs for the local community.
According to Balfour, the support building will provide space for healthcare, custody, video visitation, and administrative and support services.
Set to provide heating, cooling, and electrical services for the new facility, the standalone central plant will have two chillers, a cooling tower, and three boilers.
As part of the design, clusters of smaller-scale housing units will be included in addition to other features that include low-maintenance finishes, energy efficient LED light fixtures, and the use of water-saving landscaping elements.
The design-build team consists of Balfour Beatty Construction, which serves as general contractor, HOK Architects, Kitchell, and DLR Architects.
Balfour Beatty Construction southwest division president Brian Cahill said: "The cumulative experience of the entire design-build team includes over 350 major justice facilities, including our current work on three large prison projects in California – the award-winning San Diego County Women’s Detention Facility, the San Mateo County Jail, and the Riverside County, East County Detention Center."
Scheduled to break ground in August, the project is slated for completion by June 2017, and includes California AB900 phase 2 funding, valued at $100m.
