I am proud to announce that our Nakoosa Fleet/Fire/Radio Shop Facility project won the 2022 Engineering Excellence Best of State Award from ACEC-Wisconsin!
This vital project provides the city of Madison with a much-needed new Fleet/Fire/Radio Shop Facility. Mead & Hunt provided full building engineering design services for this 110,000-square-foot facility, which maintains about 1,400 police cruisers, fire engines, garbage trucks and other municipal vehicles. The new facility consolidates operations previously spread among three outdated buildings. This enhances efficiency and saves the city money.
The fleet facility is unique in that it incorporates many sustainable design features. To achieve LEED Gold certification, the building incorporated a 100kW photovoltaic system, solar hot water heating, radiant floors throughout, a passive heat solar wall, LED lighting in conjunction with dimmable daylight harvesting, and plenty of Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations. These measures not only significantly reduce energy consumption and enhance working conditions, but they also save the city $300,000 to $400,000 a year in utility and operating costs at the facility.
In addition, the facility was built on the site of a former Cub Foods grocery store, revitalizing a previously-underused space and enhancing the local community. The facility was designed to be a part of the local community, and multiple features enhance the working conditions for staff, though this is unusual within a fleet facility.
As the city of Madison remains on the cutting edge of an industry-wide shift toward sustainability, these features provide the infrastructure to meet the city’s growing needs, now and for the next 50-75 years. I am proud to have worked on this vital project. Congratulations to all involved!
