2025 East Best Projects
Best Government/Public Building: Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Environmental Compliance Facility and Parking Garage
Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN) Environmental Compliance Facility and Parking Garage
Pittsburgh
BEST PROJECT
Submitted by AE Works Ltd.
Owner: Allegheny County Sanitary Authority
Lead Design Firm/MEP Engineer: AE Works Ltd.
Construction Manager: G. Stephens Inc.
Civil Engineer: Colliers Engineering
Structural Engineer: Atlantic Engineering Services
Parking Garage Design: Desman Design Management
Landscape Architect: Moore Design Associates
Subcontractors: Bronder Technical Services: Mike Coates Construction Co.; DLZ; Gunning Inc.; Guy’s Mechanical Systems Inc.; Hill International; Hudson Cos.; SSM Industries Inc.; W.G. Tomko Inc.
The Environmental Compliance Facility (ECF) is a state-of-the-art laboratory and office building that supports the owner’s $2-billion clean water plan. With a total area of 54,000 sq ft, the ECF integrates functions previously dispersed across several buildings, providing specially designed laboratories for microbiology, organics and instrumentation testing. The layout enhances workflow by positioning labs and offices to enable seamless collaboration across departments.
In addition, the ECF’s modular laboratory design allows for flexibility, accommodating future testing protocols and integrating new technologies as they emerge. Moveable workstations and strategically positioned infrastructure further enhance the facility’s ability to evolve, meeting both current and future needs.
Photo by Ed Massery, courtesy AE Works Ltd.
To replace the surface parking displaced by the new ECF, the project also included a five-story, 170,000-sq-ft parking garage with 400 spaces. The garage was built on a fast-track schedule to minimize disruption to the active site and efficiently condense parking into a vertical structure. Underground utilities that conflicted with the planned construction were carefully relocated, and foundations were designed to avoid disrupting existing utilities.
Photo by Ed Massery, courtesy AE Works Ltd.
Coordination among multiple contractors, client stakeholders, and safety and security teams were essential to maintaining operational continuity at the active, highly regulated wastewater treatment plant where five concurrent expansion projects were underway. This complex environment demanded meticulous construction logistics to avoid disrupting operations, to maintain safe and accessible pathways for staff, to protect environmental systems and to align work sequences with operational and safety priorities. More than 452,000 worker hours were logged on the overall project, with only two minor recordable incidents.
Photo by Ed Massery, courtesy AE Works Ltd.
The COVID-19 pandemic presented unprecedented disruptions to the construction timeline, ultimately resulting in the project being completed behind schedule and over budget, at $42.8 million. Widespread supply chain breakdowns delayed critical materials, while labor shortages constrained site activity. A statewide halt on all non-essential construction caused scheduling uncertainty and project management complexities. The team responded with flexible phasing strategies and coordinated closely with suppliers to mitigate delays.
