W hen the US Southern Command ( SOUTHCOM) in Miami began outgrowing its current space, it looked to Hensel Phelps Construction Company, headquartered in Greeley, Colorado, to design and build a state-of- the- art, LEED- certified building complex large enough to support the command's operations and to consolidate personnel into a central location. Currently, SOUTHCOM operates out of a total of 271,000 square feet of space located in nine separate commercial buildings that the command leases throughout Miami. The brand- new facilities in the complex will offer more than double that space. SOUTHCOM is one of five of the country's geographically focused unified command operations. It is responsible for providing contingency planning, operations and security cooperation for the region that includes Central America, South America, the Caribbean, Cuba and the Bahamas. It is also responsible for providing force protection of US military resources within this region and for ensuring the defense of the Panama Canal. The region consists of 34 countries. The US Army Corps of Engineers is overseeing the design- build project being done by Hensel Phelps. The $ 237 million project involves constructing three new steel frame structures: the 630,000- square- foot headquarters building, a 160,000- square- foot services building, and a 40,000- square- foot conference center. The new headquarters building will provide adequate operational space to house about 2,300 personnel. The services building will house a support center for headquarters and will also house a fitness center, dental offices, a medical clinic and a family services center. The conference center will provide small and large conference rooms to accommodate SOUTHCOM personnel as well as joint, coalition and interagency visitors. Also housed in the new complex will be an integrated Partnership of Americas center that will foster interagency functions, among other activities. The new building complex is being built on a 55- acre parcel of State of Florida land. Hensel Phelps began construction in the spring of 2008, and construction is scheduled for completion by September 2010. The building space will be configured to optimize command and control operations for future joint, coalition and interagency activities. The three new buildings will afford SOUTHCOM room enough to execute effectively joint, coalition and interagency operations through the new state- of- the- art communications infrastructure to support this kind of collaboration. Having all staff, directorates and support Hensel Phelps Construction Company NOVEMBER 09 www. bus- ex. com 135 fortress