In the first design-build contract for a maintenance facility ever issued by the San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the STV/Whiting-Turner Contracting Co. design-build team designed and constructed expansions at the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System’s (MTS) South Bay Bus Operations and Maintenance Facility.

As part of this $50 million program, a new 49,000 square-foot high-bay maintenance building, a 12,000 square-foot operations and administration building, and a two-bay bus wash building were added to the existing facility complex.

“Because this project was procured using the design-build delivery method, speed and efficiency were a top priority for the client, said Mark Peterson, AIA, VP, project manager for the initiative. “We utilized a unique collaborative application to help make this as smooth of a process as possible for SANDAG and MTS.”

During the design phase, STV implemented a virtual desktop infrastructure system — a private cloud that allows project team members from different offices and organizations to work off of the same building information modeling (BIM) files and other data in real-time. All of the project’s drawings were centrally located and could be easily accessed by the firm’s architects and engineers around the country, as well as by outside subconsultants who helped support the maintenance facility.

The facility earned LEED Silver certification and STV coordinated with the subconsultants and contractors to help the client earn LEED credits. The LEED design strategy included natural daylighting, photovoltaic electricity generation and a high-performance building envelope.

“We’re finding that more and more of our transportation clients are pursuing sustainable design elements, even for more industrial facilities like this bus maintenance complex,” Peterson added.

Prior to work on the MTS facility, STV provided design and construction phase services for a rail maintenance complex used by Altamont Commuter Express — believed to be the first rail facility of its kind to achieve LEED Silver certification.