Passion Project

The dynamic, new, $69-million Provo City Hall and Public Safety Building is a boon to the citizens of Utah’s fourth-largest city.
By Brad Fullmer

At the grand opening of the Provo City Hall and Public Safety Building on July 2—an appropriate kick-off to the city’s Independence Day festivities—Provo Mayor Michelle Kaufusi couldn’t contain her emotions at the reality of the new $69-million multi-purpose building finally being completed.

“It’s been such a labor of love—I can’t believe we are here,” said Kaufusi, choking up. “This was such a passion project and something I didn’t know would work, but I [was] going to shoot for the stars.”

The new 205,000-SF, six-story (five levels with a basement) facility at the corner of Center Street and 500 West is a significant milestone for Kaufusi, a Provo native who admits to having more than a vested interest in seeing her hometown thrive. It replaces a severely outdated 40-year-old structure and will serve as a modern civic hub to the City’s downtown, housing myriad functions including public service, city administration, city council and chambers, 911/emergency operations center (EOC), police department, and fire department administration.

When Kaufusi took office as Mayor in 2017, she quickly became aware that the city—Utah’s fourth-largest with 114,000 residents—had woeful buildings for its existing city hall and emergency response departments. She immediately set out to raise awareness and funding for a future project. Kaufusi and her staff campaigned tirelessly to rally community support to bond for this project, and their efforts paid off when it passed by 422 votes in November 2018.

“It’s been an incredible journey,” said the Mayor. “Our goal was to educate people and leave it up to the voters. By working together, we have made Provo safer for generations to come.”

“This building stands as a pillar to police officers throughout the U.S.,” said Rich Ferguson, former Police Chief. “Our community is great. They value [officers]—they respect them as we respect our citizens.”

“[Mayor Kaufusi] showed courage,” added Scott Henderson, Project Director for Provo City. “[Her] clear direction was felt through this entire project. Rare is the opportunity that we get to work with and for our heroes. Our police and fire chiefs are completely committed to Provo and its safety.”

Henderson praised the design team led by Salt Lake-based VCBO Architecture and the construction team led by Sandy-based Layton Construction, for their collective efforts to get this project completed on budget and on time, despite diverse challenges during 2020–2021.

“This team took the intricacies of public safety and protecting citizens and combined it into a building that promotes efficiency,” said Henderson, adding that some citizens have a mentality that public, taxpayer-funded buildings shouldn’t be “too nice.” But, he continued, “If we wanted mediocre outcomes, then we hired the wrong architecture firm and project team. We were all working under the premise that Provo citizens deserve the best.”

“Brent Tippets is an amazing talent,” he said of the VCBO Principal. “We developed a sibling rivalry—we were always chipping away and pushing each other. [Brent’s team] took this project and made it amazing.”

Henderson had equally high praise for Layton’s team and subcontractors, while singling out Calvin Ostler, Project Superintendent for Layton, for his dedication and commitment to do things right.

“We experienced the worst construction influences in my lifetime—the pandemic, labor shortages, supply chain disruptions, and inflation—yet this project sits on time and on budget,” said Henderson. “There is not a project in the United States that would not trade us for this outcome. It’s due to Layton’s project analysis and early procurement that this project was kept on track. When you spend two years with people, you become a band of brothers. We have experienced ups and downs, but being a band of brothers made us so committed to deliver this building as it stands today.”

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Complex Building with Multiple Tenants Challenges Design Team

The combination of end users makes the Provo City Hall and Public Safety Building one of the more remarkable projects constructed in the city’s recent history, particularly considering the functionality needed for the different occupants.

Tippets, Principal-in-Charge for VCBO, admitted that his team—which included Casey Skinner (Project Manager) and Nathan Leavitt (Project Architect)—really had to “put on our thinking caps to solve a lot of problems” with how to accommodate multiple needs in one building.

“The combination of public safety combined with city hall functions makes it very unique—more so than you might think,” said Tippets. “The separation of all the security was quite a challenge. We came up with a good solution with public safety on one side and city on the other side.”

A dynamic four-story lobby space designed around a “slot canyon” concept turned out to be an incredible visual highlight that worked well within the space constraints, Tippets added. The design team spent a great deal of time during planning phases interviewing various end users to ensure staff and citizens would get everything they needed.

“We’ve done several municipal-type projects, and this one was unique,” said Tippets. “We had to go in quite deep on the public safety side and understand all their needs and even try to see beyond what their needs were. They lived in such an archaic facility for so long. We did some research on some other facilities and reached out for input.”

The client requested that police/public safety/911 emergency operations spaces be designed to meet the national standards of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies —both from a functional and physical facility standpoint.

Another highlight is that the building was designed to meet stringent Net Zero sustainability standards. The all-electric building required a complex energy model along with specialized HVAC and cooling systems.

The electrical system, designed by Salt Lake-based Spectrum Engineers, required careful coordination with Provo City Power for redundant utility service to the building. A powerful 2.5-MW diesel generator provides backup for critical functions, ensuring continued operation during power outages or other catastrophic events. The data center was engineered for 99.99% reliability and uptime and features digitally controlled LED luminaires with automatic occupancy and daylighting sensors. Other technological highlights include state-of-the-art audio/visual systems, video surveillance, access control, intrusion detection, and structured cabling for all data networks.

Structurally, the building is designed to withstand a major seismic event with a structural steel and buckling restrained brace system with concrete on metal decking. Exterior finishes of steel, concrete, brick, GFRC, EIFS, and an aluminum storefront offer a strong aesthetic appeal.

Construction Team Measures Up

For Brian McBeth, Layton’s Construction Manager, this project brought back fond memories of his time studying construction management at Brigham Young University. A newlywed at the time, he and his wife lived for a year in an apartment a stone’s throw away from the project site, which used to be home to a Firestone tire shop and Rocky Mountain Drive-In.

“My wife and I would go there for shakes and dinner,” he recalled. “We had our first son in Provo and used to take him to get ice cream and go play in Pioneer Park [across the street from the new complex].”

McBeth said the building, which broke ground in April 2020 (coinciding with the pandemic), proved to be a more challenging project due to the uniqueness of building a multi-functional space coupled with the many negative factors mentioned by Henderson.

“Building-wise, it was unique because it was the marrying of separate offices and buildings […] and just trying to bring everybody into one building. Anytime you bring police into a building, it makes the building type different,” McBeth said, citing ballistics glass and drywall needs, and other measures for city council chambers.

During initial excavation, crews encountered underground oil tanks that required state remediation, an old swimming pool, and other old structural elements. McBeth said it was a “very interesting site” with flowing water at about 12 feet underground. An elaborate dewatering process with seven pumps was put in place for crews to build footings and do foundation work.

Overall, he said, the entire construction team performed admirably over the 26-month schedule, despite the project starting at the tail end of tariffs, the early days of Covid, supply chain and price escalation issues, etc.

“You think of some of the worst building times we’ve been through, and it all hit on this one project,” said McBeth. “We got the ‘best of everything’ on this project and still finished on time and under budget.”

Provo City Hall and Public Safety Building

Cost: $69 million ($57 million construction cost)

Delivery Method: CM/GC

Square Feet: 205,000

Levels/Stories: Five levels (with basement)

Owner: Provo City

Owner’s Rep: Scott Henderson; Dick Blackham

Design Team

Architect: VCBO Architecture

Civil: Great Basin Engineering

Electrical: Spectrum Engineers

Mechanical: Heath Engineering

Structural: Reaveley Engineers

Geotech: GSH Geotechnical

Landscape: Arcsitio Design

Construction Team

General Contractor: Layton Construction

Concrete: Layton Construction

Plumbing: KHI Mechanical

HVAC: KHI Mechanical

Electrical: Wilkinson Electric

Masonry: Troy Hales Masonry

Drywall: Muddy Boys, Inc.

Acoustics: K&L Acoustic & Drywall, Inc.

Painting: Grow Painting

Tile/Stone: Millcreek Tile & Stone

Carpentry: Associated Fixture Manufacturing

Flooring: Design Team

Roofing: Flynn/Noorda

Glass/Curtain Wall: Linford Contract Glazing

Waterproofing: Hooley Caulking, Inc.

Steel Fabrication: Schuff Steel

Steel Erection: J&M Steel Solutions

Excavation: Siri Contracting

Demolition: Siri Contracting

Landscaping: Stratton & Bratt Landscapes

Fun Facts:

1,400 tons of steel on the project. 1,400 tons x 2,000 lbs. = 2.8 million pounds of steel.

miles of plumbing piping

4.1 miles of HVAC duct/159,00 lbs. of duct (weight of 130 steel frame cars)

262,000 LF (about 50 miles) of conduit. If you add MC cable it increases to 84 miles.

9,300 cubic yards of concrete = 4-ft. wide sidewalk 35 miles long.

The project includes space for: police administration; fire administration; secure parking; holding cells; dog kennels; emergency operations center; dispatch/911 call center; crime lab; armory; SWAT; training room; vehicle evidence bays; evidence storage; physical fitness training/gym; electronic crimes division; community/press room.

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