Summary: With a stagnant economy and lingering recession, municipalities are on the lookout for ways to cut costs and stretch budgets.  In the Pacific Northwest, seven cities have joined forces under the banner of the South Correctional Entity (SCORE) to develop what could become a prototype for fiscally-responsible jails nationwide.  At approximately half the per-bed cost of similar construction, the unique design of the $49.3-million jail’s two pie-shaped housing units conserves space while reducing operational costs.  Creative solutions developed in an atmosphere of cooperation between public-development authority members, designers from the DLR Group, and general contractor Lydig Construction’s team resulted in considerable savings for this 850-bed detention center.

The 156,248-sf facility calls for special steel detention panels filled with concrete grout to be fabricated off-site, which required Berg to provide detailing for conduit, boxes, and block-outs very early in the process.  Berg met with other members of the mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) team I weekly coordination meetings where Building Information Modeling (BIM) for each trade was fully integrated. 

In addition to installing all electrical for site power and low-voltage systems that will serve as the backbone of the jail’s communications—tel-data, fire alarm and security/access control—Bergelectric is also providing temporary power during construction.