Balfour Beatty Construction and U.S. Marines Hold Opening Ceremony for Wounded Warrior Hope and Care Center

San Diego, CA, October 08, 2011 --(PR.com)-- Balfour Beatty Construction and the U.S. Marine Corps, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony yesterday for the new $31 million Wounded Warrior Headquarters and Hope and Care Center at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, Calif. Several wounded Marines and sailors assigned to Wounded Warrior Battalion West were in attendance amidst an audience of more than 600 guests.

Construction on the two-building, design-build project began in April 2010. The facility will serve as the West Coast headquarters for the Marine’s Wounded Warrior program.

The Hope and Care Center is 30,995 square feet and includes a resource and recovery center, weight training center, outdoor amphitheater, therapeutic gardens, indoor therapy pool, outdoor lap pool, climbing wall and an 1/8 mile covered track. It also includes space for counseling, employment support, financial management, community orientation, training, and outreach programs.

The headquarters administration and multi-purpose facility is 9,354 square feet of space for administration and operations as well as multi-purpose space for a visitor waiting area and conference rooms. In addition, the offices are comprised of flexible components, easily modifiable for future office needs.

Both facilities are 100% ADA-compliant and were designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The buildings are designed to complement the community atmosphere created by the nearby Wounded Warrior Barracks, also completed by Balfour Beatty Construction earlier this year. That facility received the first-ever LEED Platinum certification for a U.S. Navy and/or U.S. Marine Corps project worldwide.

“Our primary focus was to create a holistic, integrated design process which provided the highest level sustainable quality achievable,” said Sean Hulen, Balfour Beatty Construction vice president and project executive. “Combined with a design-build delivery method, the use of Building Information Modeling, or BIM, enhanced the LEED process by allowing the project team to quantify materials, minimize contingencies, and reduce waste generated on site.”

The sustainable design solutions are expected to reduce water usage by more than 84,000 gallons per year, and provide over $52,000 in energy savings, combined for both buildings.

All of the Wounded Warrior facilities were designed by architect Cass, Sowatsky, Chapman & Associates of San Diego. Balfour Beatty Construction staff working on the project includes Sean Hulen, vice president; Dave Christensen, general superintendent; Sean Phillips, superintendent; Charles McArthur, senior project manager; Matt Wathen, project engineer; Joseph Mansour, quality control manager and Don Sutton, site safety health officer.

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