Aurora, CO – March 18, 2010 – The construction contract for the first facility of the Airmen Training Complex (ATC) that will be built at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, was awarded to the Balfour Beatty/Satterfield & Pontikes Joint Venture, it was announced by Merrick & Company, lead architect and engineer for the project. The $46 million awarded contract is for a dormitory that includes space for 1,248 recruits, administrative offices, and day rooms. This dormitory is one of eight housing units that will eventually be part of the ATC, along with four dining-classroom facilities, and ATC campus utility infrastructure upgrades.
The remaining portions of the ATC will be put out to bid, with the first of four dining-classroom facilities being awarded in February, 2010. Portions of the ATC will be set aside for small business participation that will include landscaping, irrigation, sidewalks, parking areas, and training facilities associated with each dormitory such as running tracks, drill pads, war skills areas, and weapons cleaning pavilions.
The majority of this dormitory’s first floor is open to the exterior and includes a skylight to provide covered formation space, so training can occur during the inclement weather. Other features of the facility include a utility crawlspace, mechanical penthouse, AT/FP requirements and design for a sought-after LEED Silver certification. It’s anticipated that construction of all the facilities will take approximately nine years to complete. Construction of the first dormitory will begin immediately.
Merrick & Company provided architecture, mechanical/electrical/structural engineering, and interior design for the project, with K.M. Ng & Associates of San Antonio, Texas, providing civil engineering and exterior electrical engineering services. Cost estimating was provided by U.S. Cost. Merrick will also be providing construction management during construction.
The Balfour Beatty/Satterfield & Pontikes Joint Venture is comprised of Balfour Beatty Construction, a Dallas-based construction management company with 2,200 employees serving public and private clients across the U.S. Satterfield & Pontikes is a Houston, Texas-based, 550-person construction company that focuses on the Texas and Louisiana regions.
Merrick & Company
Merrick & Company, a $100 million engineering, architecture, design-build, surveying, and geospatial solutions firm, serves domestic and international clients in the government, energy, life sciences, infrastructure, nuclear, and geospatial/mapping markets. Merrick’s work is concentrated in highly technical fields including projects in renewable energy, nuclear, government facilities, research laboratories, water resources, public works, infrastructure, and high precision mapping. The firm maintains an active Corporate Social Responsibility program serving the environmental, social, and economic aspects of the projects they’re involved in and the communities they serve. Merrick is committed to sustainable design and construction practices through its 50+ LEED-accredited professionals and is continually expanding its in-house resources to serve tomorrow’s needs. Headquartered in Aurora, Colorado, the employee-owned company maintains seven offices in the U.S. as well as offices in Canada and Mexico.