Rockwall County Jail Wraps Texas Transformation
By CN Staff
ROCKWALL, Texas—Adolfson & Peterson Construction (AP), a national construction management firm and general contractor; Broaddus & Associates, the program manager; DLR Group, the design partner; and Rockwall County gathered to commemorate their collective work in making additions to the Rockwall County Jail during a March 8 dedication ceremony.
The Rockwall County Jail received an 82,943-square-foot expansion, adding 204 new beds to the current 240-bed residency, ultimately increasing to 444 beds. The development includes a new civil infrastructure with direct and indirect supervision in two-story cell housing units, and new intake, visitation, kitchen, laundry, medical and mental health facilities. In addition to the facility’s new spaces, Rockwall County Jail now houses state-of-the-art features to increase overall wellbeing, efficiency and safety. Renovation work is underway for the facility’s east and west wings, as well as the Rockwall County Sherriff’s office and will be open for occupancy in mid-April.
“Through our work with the county and strong partnership with Broaddus and DLR Group, we’ve been able to meet the county’s needs through our expansion and renovation work thus far,” said Bob Lemke, AP’s vice president of operations. “Being able to walk through and see what we’ve accomplished, encourages and excites us for the renovation work ahead of us and ultimately, the completed facility.”
New negative pressure rooms allow for Covid-positive inmates to be quarantined while simultaneously avoiding cross contamination throughout the population. Extensive top-of-the-line technology in the large control center enhances security and monitoring in all jail areas. The kitchen was constructed for food to be prepared on-site by inmates or staff, creating healthier, more cost-efficient meals. Additionally, the new medical area offers dental work, blood work and mental health services to enable inmates to become healthy citizens.
“Congratulations to the design-build team of DLR Group and A-P for completing this challenging and fast-paced project,” said Vince Yauger, Broaddus & Associates’ owner’s representative for Rockwall County and program manager for the Jail Expansion project. “The team worked together with the county and sheriff’s department to quickly resolve problems in the field as they occurred, resulting in an outstanding facility that the citizens of Rockwall County can be truly proud of – one that will serve the community for decades to come.”
“As detention facility designers, we are guided by our design ethos, which focuses on elevating behavioral, environmental and social betterment resulting in healing, equity and transformation for individuals and communities,” said Darrell Stelling AIA DBIA, DLR Group’s justice and civic leader and senior principal. “This facility addition and renovation answers need for betterment for Rockwall County’s citizens who are housed here and focuses on healing with the addition of much needed medical and behavior health facilities as well as improved visitation services for the public. It also has improved facilities for the staff who work in a high-stress environment by improving and modernizing housing, intake, transfer and security technologies.”
The ceremonial ribbon cutting, led by Sherriff Garrett, took place in the facility’s lobby, with the project team and the city’s commissioners, current and former sheriffs, majors and captains in attendance. During the ceremony, a Dedication Certificate was presented to Sheriff Garrett by state representative Justin Holland to commemorate the occasion and extensive collaborative efforts made to bring this project to fruition. The Mayor of Rockwall, Kevin Fowler, and multiple officials from surrounding counties attended the dedication where representatives from Broaddus & Associates, DLR Group and AP spoke to the project’s progressions and achievements.
AP has a long history of providing construction management services to municipalities and governmental entities throughout Texas. Current and past projects in the state include the North Dallas Government Center for the City of Dallas, the Marq for the City of Southlake, the City Facilities (public safety center, community center and senior center) for the Town of Little Elm, and the Stephen G. Terrell Recreation Center in Allen. Nationally, AP has completed more than 2.2 million square feet of construction work for municipalities and governmental entities since 2016.