Dare County, North Carolina, a re- mote Outer Banks community located 90 miles from Norfolk, Virginia and 200 miles from Raleigh, North Carolina, required a state-of-the-art justice facility to replace its existing 100-year-old courthouse and associated warren of the converted grocery store and motel buildings pressed into service as court support facilities. The result is a 70,000-square-foot, two-story justice facility, which includes the county tax offices, Register of Deeds, probation, Sheriff's office, holding cells, five courtrooms, and Clerk of Court offices with support facilities. The construction period was from May 2001 to October 2002.

The role of the courthouse in this small community made this a particularly significant project for the County. The primary users of the justice center- judges, clerk of the court, sheriff, register of deeds, and the general public either having their day in court or performing jury duty-had distinct opinions on how the new facility should look and operate.

While creating an exemplary, up-to-date justice center that would be a model for other communities, Heery's project team was also charged with meeting other goals. Dare County wanted the justice center to present an appropriate civic image, as well as incorporate features in keeping with the community's expectations for the facility to reflect Dare County's rich heritage and history. Heery provided programming, planning and design, and single-source design build services. The team used an Integrated Project Delivery (IPD), also known as LEAN, approach to the project.

The new justice center is located at the end of the new Highway 64 bridge, meaning that the justice center is the first thing visitors to Roanoke Island (part of Dare County) see. Extensive architectural detailing on three sides presents an appropriate courthouse image. Elements of the old courthouse design (such as columns and the use of brick) are incorporated into the new building to give it this local, historical reference point. Other local design features include a terrazzo map of Dare County at the main lobby entrance, symbolic light house design for in the inside lobby, balcony columns, and extensive landscaping to blend with Manteo's city-wide approach to landscaping.

Instructions: Imagine Dare County selected your company as the construction manager for the Dare County Justice Center project. The owner has not designed the facility and needs your company to define the scope of the project. As the Senior Project Manager for the project, it is your responsibility to develop a workable purpose, approach, and feasible limits. 

Read the following Dare County Justice Center Case Study and answer the questions below.

1. What is the use of the project and what functions will it serve?
2. Why is the project being built?
3. What is the scale, “look and feel” and nature of the project?
4. What questions would you ask based on intuition and quantitative impressions to find the best “workable approach”?
5. What are some of the project ingredients you must consider?
6. Is risk evaluation for the project necessary? If so, explain your answer.

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 The use of the project is to provide Dare County with a courthouse that can both hear cases and function as a home for numerous offices The clerk of ... View the full answer