Arapahoe County adds $250,000 to detention medical expansion after design miss
Commissioners authorized the additional capital funds after testing found inadequate smoke-exhaust airflow; fire inspections and occupancy remained pending as of Aug. 5.
Arapahoe County commissioners authorized an additional $250,000 Tuesday for the detention center’s medical expansion after testing found the smoke-exhaust system did not provide enough airflow. The change came after ceilings had been closed, increasing the cost of the work.
The money, drawn from unallocated capital-improvement funds, is in addition to the project’s $46.4 million budget. County staff said it would pay for a change order adding exhaust grilles and duct connections.
Ken Morris, the county’s division manager for project operations, said the original drawings generally identified the smoke-control system, while detailed engineering came later through a deferred submittal after Siemens was selected as the vendor. Testing and balancing found the system below the required exhaust volume. Morris called it “a design miss” and said the county’s mechanical design professional appeared to have missed the connection between the original design and the vendor’s engineering.
Because the changes came after detention-grade ceilings were closed, space above them was limited. The county has not announced a reimbursement claim or other formal action against the design professionals, and it remains unclear whether it will seek to recover the added cost.
At Tuesday’s study session, county staff told commissioners they expected construction corrections to finish by Friday, Aug. 7. South Metro Fire Rescue inspections and sign-off were targeted for the following week, with occupancy hoped for the week after. As of Aug. 5, those were scheduled events, not completed milestones. Staff projected full project completion, excluding closeout and punch-list work, for Oct. 2.
The expansion is intended to add 39 specialized medical and behavioral-health beds, bringing the detention center’s medical-area capacity to 57, according to the county’s project description. It includes about 12,000 square feet of new medical space and the relocation of kitchen and laundry facilities to make room for the beds.