Construction of new jail set for March

Construction of the new Garland County Detention Center will begin in March, County Judge Rick Davis said Thursday.

He said the spring starting date will not delay the fall 2014 expected completion date for the new detention facility.

Davis had initially wanted to start the jail construction this fall, but the jail’s architectural team and site management firm convinced him it would be better to start the project in March.

He said if the project began this fall, “You’re going to wind up having erosion and you’re going to have to go back and finish grading the slab. They have a good point and I agreed with that.”

“They’re right. It will erode through winter. Then it costs more for mobilization for the dirt

contractor to come back and re- grade and finish the slab area where the building is going.”

Davis said he told the architectural team and site management firm “that if they’re all on board and if it doesn’t hold up our middle of 2014 completion of the building that I’m not against starting in March and doing things in a proper sequence and not having a dead space in between.”

“I think it’s pretty much a done deal. But I did stress that with the possibility of weather being bad in February and March, I don’t want it delaying our time frame of the middle of 2014 and they said it wouldn’t.”

Davis said some off- site project utility package work could start before March.

He said the basic schematic design, or blueprint, for the detention center has been approved “with conditions.”

“I think we have all of that squared away,” he said.

Davis, jail officials and representatives of the Cromwell Architects and HOK design team and Nabholz Construction Corp., of Conway, will meet next week to further discuss the jail design and construction process.

“It’s progressing along,” Davis said. “They’re coming about every two weeks looking at different designs and drawings and trying to agree to stuff. The last time we agreed on the schematic design, more or less, for them to move forward with the understanding that some of the things that were in question, they’re going to have get us some more information on.”

Davis said he signed the contract with Nabholz Construction Corp., the last major contract in the project, earlier this week.

“It’s done. Everybody’s ready to go to work,” he said.