Firm will draw upon its proven track record to deliver sustainable building design and safer industrial work site for agency’s new Ross Complex facility
Bonneville Power Administration employees at the utility’s Ross Complex are getting a safer, simpler, and more efficient workplace. The power utility that services more than seven states and 300,000 square miles across the Pacific Northwest has selected Hennebery Eddy Architects to lead a major facilities upgrade at its Ross Complex in Vancouver, Wash. When complete, the site will include distinct zones for heavy equipment, personal vehicles, bicycles and pedestrians, and a new 45,000-square-foot fleet services building with separate repair and administrative spaces.
Presently, equipment that is too large or complex to maintain at BPA’s regional heavy mobile equipment maintenance (HMEM) facilities must return to the Ross Complex for maintenance and repairs. While the existing fleet services building houses the appropriate repair tools, none of its nine service stalls include pull-through bays, and the ceiling height prevents indoor repair of some specialized fleet vehicles. This requires some service to be performed outdoors, causing delays and increasing risk of injury due to inclement weather.
The new building design will accommodate the disassembly and indoor repair of extending heavy equipment in 10 pass-through bays. The entire service area, oriented along a single east-west building axis, will reduce vehicle repositioning and organization time with pass-through bays, putting regional equipment back in the field more quickly. The building’s north-south circulation axis will house administrative and break spaces and serve as an access barrier to the service section of the facility. Upon completion of the new building, the existing 20,000-square-foot art deco-era fleet services facility will be repurposed by BPA.
BPA’s new fleet services building will feature sustainable workplace design, conceived to perform efficiently to reduce ongoing operations and maintenance costs and conserve resources. The project is the agency’s first CM/GC effort. Hoffman Construction is serving as general contractor, with structural, civil, mechanical/electrical, and geotechnical engineering from Equilibrium Engineers, KPFF Consulting Engineers, Systems West Engineers and GRI and landscape architecture from Lango Hansen.