North Carolina Construction News staff writer
Concord has broken ground on a new 9,000-sq. ft. communications and emergency operations centre, a design-build project scheduled for completion in September 2027.
Edifice Construction is delivering the facility with ADW Architects.
The project will replace the current space that has housed the city’s communications department inside the Fire Station 3 for the past 30 years, while Concord’s population has grown by more than 155 per cent and emergency call volumes have more than doubled.
The department’s telecommunicators answer 911 calls, manage after-hours customer service calls and dispatch water, electric and transportation crews to respond to outages, water main breaks, downed trees and blocked roadways.
The new facility will include an expanded communications room with space for additional telecommunicators, conference rooms, dedicated training areas and an emergency operations centre. It will also provide spaces to support staff working long shifts and responding to extended weather events and other emergencies.
Mechanical and electrical systems will incorporate redundancy to help maintain critical communications during adverse conditions.
Construction will require approximately 250 cubic yards of concrete, equivalent to about 25 truckloads, and 65,000 bricks for the exterior.
The design-build project has required extensive planning and co-ordination with the city to ensure construction does not interfere with emergency responses at the adjacent fire station, Edifice Construction said.
Timmons Group, Optima Engineering, Mission Critical Partners and Stewart are also part of the project team. The new centre is intended to expand the city’s emergency communications capacity and provide the infrastructure needed to support future population growth.