Aqua Ohio, Dublin Building Systems and Blandon Township Officials broke ground this month on a new operations center for their Franklin County Division.
The 15,000 square foot, $3.2 million state-of-the-art building was designed with an eye toward efficiency and offers features like large windows to take advantage of natural sunlight in the office and garage areas. When staff does need more light, flipping the switch will activate long-lasting, energy efficient fixtures.
“We’re very excited to get this project underway, for too long our offices have been wedged into what served as the model home for the neighborhood. We’ve been coping with a lack of space and other problems,” said David Dunn, Area Manager for Aqua’s Franklin Division. “What I’m most excited about is that this building will allow us to better serve our customers. It will make day-to-day operations and training easier, and with covered equipment storage we’ll be able to respond to emergencies more quickly, especially during cold weather.”
The new building will include an exterior insulated finish system with masonry wainscot exterior walls with a standing seam steel roof on a pre-engineered steel structure. It is being constructed by Dublin Building Systems (DBS), a leading commercial & industrial design-build general contractor headquartered in Central Ohio.
David Huston, Director of Preconstruction for DBS, commented on the design and construction process, “Our project team including OHM Advisors and The Kleingers Group have thoroughly enjoyed working with Aqua to design a new facility that will equip the company to continue their growth in Central Ohio. We especially appreciate Aqua’s engagement in the design-build partnership that has created value for all of the project stakeholders and ultimately their customers.”
This building will serve Aqua’s 11,000 customers in Franklin County and Southeast Ohio. The project is part of the company’s 2020 plan to invest $53.4 million in infrastructure among its 38 Ohio water and wastewater systems.
Aqua Ohio is the Buckeye State’s largest investor-owned drinking water and wastewater utility and serves about 500,000 customers in 19 counties. Visit AquaAmerica.com for more information, or follow Aqua on Facebook at facebook.com/MyAquaAmerica and on Twitter at @MyAquaAmerica
###
