Pinellas County Jail Upgrade

The new infrastructure building on the Pinellas County Jail campus provides for a new central plant and master control, laundry and food services for the entire jail operations. The infrastructure building has several resiliency features intended to maintain critical operations during the most severe weather events and natural disasters. As the nerve center of the entire campus, the building must remain operational at all times.

The natural gas generator-based electrical and chilled water source ensures that the infrastructure building can function as an island through the most severe conditions, and provide food, cooling, and security controls to the entire campus until local utilities are back on line.

The new master controls offers the ability to monitor and control the entire campus. While the control room in each building still monitors and manages the movement during the course of daily operations, master control can take control of any building when needed. In the event of an emergency, this serves as the emergency operation center for the entire campus.

The design process analyzed the delivery times and in an out flow of these processes to identify optimal placement of food and laundry equipment to ensure the efficiency and safety of this inmate labor driven operation. The laundry area is organized to align with the flow and operations and places the office in the center of the space with clear visibility and access to the entire process. Cart travel paths provide good site lines and are weather protected to ensure swift safe movement patterns.

The kitchen and security controls and central energy plant are intentionally elevated to raise them above the Category 5 storm surge and the building main first floor is elevated above the 500 year flood plain. Exterior windows are designed to Miami-Dade Zone 5 186 mph wind loads, above the local code required 155 mph wind loads.

Awards

• 2019 – Awarded Florida Region Design-Build Project of the Year by Design-Build Institute of America.