Village of Oswego Police Headquarters & Training Facility
Oswego, Ill.
Best Project

Owner: Village of Oswego
Contractor: Gilbane Building Co.
Lead Design Firm/Structural Engineer: HOK
Civil Engineer: Eriksson Engineering Associates Ltd.
MEP Engineer: Henneman Engineering Inc.
Owner Adviser: McClaren, Wilson & Lawrie Inc.
Landscape Architect/Community Liaison: Schoppe Design Associates Inc.
General Trades Subcontractor: Lamp Inc.
HVAC Subcontractor: C. Acitelli Heating & Piping Contractors Inc.
Masonry Subcontractor: A.L.L. Masonry Construction Co.
Excavation & Demolition Subcontractor: S&K Excavating & Trucking

Built to provide a fast-growing village with a much-needed modern police facility, the $27.2-million, 72,000-sq-ft building symbolizes the open engagement and dialogue between law enforcement officers and the citizens they protect and serve that police everywhere strive for.

The design of the brick- and glass-clad building, developed in collaboration with community members and other stakeholders, is punctuated by a 60-ft tower that serves as both a “community beacon of safety” and a renewable energy source. Solar arrays incorporated into the tower facade power an evacuated tube water heating system, expressing the village’s commitment to sustainability. The new building also complements a nearby fire headquarters, forming a civic campus for the village with landscaped and built features that safeguard staff and visitors from potential threats.

Creating a high-visibility community landmark required the project team to first address some hidden challenges, such as high levels of moisture in the underlying soils. Rather than invest in a costly remediation effort, the project team altered the design to raise the building by 1 ft, keeping the foundation footing’s bottom away from the natural water table and creating a solid structural base. Implementing this approach ultimately proved substantially less costly than the alternatives.

Team-wide coordination proved critical to implementing a value management process aimed at reducing the overall project budget. The process created a domino effect on the sequencing of work, including shifting the schedule of long-lead items to meet an expedited 17-month construction schedule. BIM also played a critical role in maximizing the team’s overall efficiency, with subcontractors able to sort and access issues related to their respective scopes of work. This enhanced information-sharing capability minimized onsite coordination needs.

Completed on schedule, the building provides police staff with professional work environments featuring improved operational workflow. For example, the briefing room leads directly to equipment and duty bag storage areas and the covered patrol vehicle garage. In addition to amenities such as a fitness center, the building also features flexible spaces that can be easily adapted for future growth and changes in function.

To support efforts to foster collaboration with other law enforcement and first responder agencies, the building design incorporates a variety of training features such as a tactical indoor firing range, defensive tactics training room and a flexible training classroom that can be converted to an emergency operations center. A glass-enclosed community room is also available for educational programs and other events.

In addition to the signature solar heating system, the new headquarters was designed for LEED Silver certification through features such as its orientation to maximize energy efficiency and its use of daylight to illuminate interior spaces. Other features include automated lighting controls, a high-efficiency HVAC system and low-flow plumbing fixtures.

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