Square
Feet:
31,000
Contract Type:
Design / Build
Owner:
Charlotte County Government,
Port Charlotte, Florida
Architect:
Harvard Jolly, Inc.
Ft. Myers, Florida
The new 2-story, 30,000 SF building houses Charlotte County’s Fire/EMS headquarters, The Emergency Operations Department, the County’s Non-Emergency information hotline (Human Services 211), administrative space for key Sheriff’s Department personnel and back-up 911 operator consoles. The building was also designed and constructed to withstand 175 MPH winds and will operate as the County’s Emergency Operations Center in the event of an emergency.
Hurricane resistant design elements include tornadic doors, windows and hardware and a structural concrete roof system capable of resisting uplift loads from 175 MPH winds. The facility has back-up redundant mechanical and electrical systems. The permanent electric power is backed up with a UPS power system and a standby 750 KVA diesel powered generator capable of operating the full facility for three days before needing additional fuel. The sanitary waste and domestic water systems are backed-up with holding tanks and an on-site well system. The HVAC system has redundant chillers and air handling units. Separate dedicated HVAC systems were included in the key electronic equipment areas and have dual refrigerant (DX and chilled water) cycles for added redundancy.
- Other features of the facility include;
• A fully enclosed mechanical courtyard to protect all the exterior mechanical
equipment,
as well as the generator.
• A news briefing area with television and radio broadcast capabilities and remote
connections for mobile satellite broadcast trucks.
• The hub of the facility is a 2-story communications and management Command
Center to be used during emergencies. This area contains integrated 15’ x 8’
“projection wall” for viewing large scale images (radar, maps, satellite information,
etc). In the event of an emergency the facility is designed to house all the
departments of the County Government with additional space for City Government
and School District representatives.
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