KDOC is leasing the new Lansing, Kan., facility from CoreCivic. Photo Credit: JE Dunn Construction
Featured Articles

JE Dunn to Manage the Design & Construction of KDOC’s New Lansing Correctional Facility

LANSING, Kan. — Everyone can use a little elbow room, and the Kansas Department of Corrections (KDOC) will bring some to inmates soon enough, with the new 396,719-square-foot expansion at its Lansing Correctional Campus. To manage and design the facility, KDOC has tapped JE Dunn Construction, a large-scale domestic general building contractor with offices in 21 locations across the nation. The company offers comprehensive services from designing and building to financing and leasing criminal justice properties.

Partnering with JE Dunn will be DLR Group, which will serve as the project’s architect and engineer. The Overland Park, Kan.-based firm specializes in criminal justice design and, like JE Dunn, maintains a large footprint throughout the US as well as abroad with a total of 28 offices. Likewise, the firm has enjoyed a tripartite partnership with JE Dunn and private correctional facility contractor CoreCivic for a quarter century. Joining this troika is Lawrence, Kan.-based TreanorHL, which will provide additional architectural and civil engineering services.

“We are honored to work with our long-time partners at Core Civic, DLR Group and TreanorHL,” said Project Executive Vance McMillan in a statement.

TreanorHL is a national architectural firm specializing in planning, programming and design for the justice, academic and healthcare markets. With nine offices throughout the country, TreanorHL also has experience in historic preservation, science and technology, housing and mixed-use, advanced industries and K-12 architecture.

The expansion of the Lansing facility will bring additional housing units and inmate beds as well as new intake units. The design-build project includes ample site circulation and parking and improved lighting and security. There will also be modern utility systems in an effort to provide energy cost savings.

According to the KDOC website, key features of the expanded facility will include:

Two housing units — a 1,920-bed maximum and medium unit and a 512-bed minimum unit; medical services (improved design for aging population) food service, “spiritual life” and staff support areas; indoor and outdoor recreation areas.

The security system will boast triple-biased magnetic door switches and enhanced video surveillance systems. Moreover, the facility will have an energy-saving shell design with state-of-the-art roofing system, highly-insulated walls systems and enhanced security systems. There will also be local maintenance staff, locksmiths and professional services.

KDOC is leasing the facility from CoreCivic, one of the nation’s leading owners of criminal justice real estate leased to the government. The design-build process is expected to take two years.