Butler-Type Building Cuts Cost of Station
Pre-engineered building systems saved Jackson, Miss., $34,000 in construction costs for a firehouse in its densely populated northwest corridor.
The city put out for bid a design developed by Mitchell & Oakes Architects after a preliminary cost analysis by the project architect, Jerry Oakes. The specifications for the 60 X 90-foot station used a landmark building system produced by Butler Manufacturing Company.
“The city had been plagued by ever-rising construction costs so it charged us with developing a design employing pre-engineered systems as an economy measure,” Oakes said. “They had their basic floor plan, so we concentrated our efforts on adapting it to a pre-engineered envelope.
“Each element was quoted independently and we drew a good field of bidders. Firehouses in our area have traditionally run high because of their elaborate mechanical requirements. But the building systems enabled us to obtain substantial economies in materials compared to conventional construction used in the past.”
The station, which now houses one engine company, can accommodate two pumpers and has adequate living quarters and office space. Built with federal revenue sharing funds, the facility stands in an area of $45,000-plus homes which previously had inadequate fire protection. The engineering costs for two more proposed fire stations can be substantially reduced using Station 21’s plans and specifications as a prototype, Oakes believes.
The structural system used for the new station, which cost over $200,000, has a double-locked, standing seam metal roof as an integrated component.
“It’s one of the few buildings we haven’t had callbacks on for roof leaks,” Oakes observed.
Six inches of glass fiber insulation installed in the ceiling was an energy-saving consideration for the air-conditioned facility. Factory-insulated metal wall panels with a .10 Uvalue were used, and the interior facing eliminated any additional trimwork. The wall panels and factory-glazed window units accounted for much of the economy versus masonry materials favored for earlier projects here.
The cost was $46.60 per square foot, compared to $53 estimated for conventional construction.
