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The new headquarters for the United States Coast Guard is part of the first phase of development of the former campus of the historic Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Washington DC. The design of the 11-level facility accounts for and accommodates a 120ft change in elevation and will consolidate a workforce of nearly 4,000. Arup provided key fire and life safety consulting services by developing a coordinated code application approach for the building, parking garage, and central utilities plant.
The Coast Guard Headquarters has been designed with emergency generators, backup power, and other equipment needed for the organisation to operate under any circumstance. The main facility will feature a 400,000ft2 green roof as well as high efficiency mechanical and electrical systems. The building is targeting LEED gold certification.
Developing a key fire and life safety strategy
The Arup team developed a coordinated code application approach for the fire and life safety concepts for the building, parking garage, and an existing central utilities plant. For the headquarter building, design and arrangement of the occupant egress routes required particular attention, as none of the levels are immediately on top of each other. We were able to use our pre-existing relationship with the fire authorities at the General Services Administration (GSA) to work through these issues and achieve solutions that satisfied both the client and the agency while fulfilling the intent of the code.
