Project of the Month: Lavallee Brensinger completes $43.5 million Manchester Municipal Complex

On June 1st, the City of Manchester held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the Manchester Municipal Complex, home to the Manchester police, fleet maintenance and public works departments, designed by Lavallee Brensinger Architects. The new $43.5 million facility provides a safe, collaborative, and energy-efficient work environment for the 500 public service employees to be housed on the 10-acre campus. Previously, the departments of public works and the police department resided in four separate parts of the city in buildings as much as 50 years old that severely lacked the necessary functional and safety features required to serve their employees and the city. "We were looking for the best qualified team to take on this project while working collaboratively to complete our goal of providing a new consolidated facility," said Kevin Sheppard, director of Manchester Department of Public Works. "Lavallee Brensinger exceeded our expectations with a well coordinated and fast tracked schedule to complete the project with Harvey Construction in a timely and quality manner." Setting the stage for future public service departmental growth, the team completed the facility on time and under budget which provided the optimal high-tech and state-of-the-art facilities for the growing community departments. Lavallee Brensinger included many improved features in their designs to increase the safety and efficiency in areas where those qualities were integral for success. For example, the new 72,000 s/f police station includes a ten lane firing range, a fitness facility, and numerous technology-rich conference/meeting rooms for facilitating inter-departmental collaboration. In addition, the 35,000 s/f fleet vehicle maintenance building consolidated five separate maintenance facilities scattered throughout the city into a single right-sized and properly equipped facility. "We were honored to have been a part of this team with the City of Manchester and Harvey Construction," said Chris Drobat, vice president of Lavallee Brensinger Archts. The project's consulting team included TF Moran, civil engineers, Foley Buhl Roberts and Associates, structural engineers, RDK, mechanical and electrical engineers, ADG, police planning consultants, and MDG, maintenance facility planning consultants. Since the early stages of the municipal complex project in 2010, Manchester mayor Ted Gatsas has pushed the need for these new facilities even during a time of economic hardships. His support was the foundation of positive relationships between city, architects, and builders that proved to be a valuable component of the project. "With this project, we have created jobs and built a model project for other municipalities to follow," said mayor Gatsas. The City of Manchester Department of Public Works administration building recently won this year's 2013 AIANH Honor Award for excellence in architectural design of the municipal complex. Lavallee Brensinger Archts. was also honored with the same award for their work on the Hillsborough County North Superior Court Renovation. The ribbon cutting ceremony included building tours, police demonstrations and many other family fun activities for citizens of Manchester to enjoy while appreciating the overall neighborhood revitalization that the complex provided.