When the Third Precinct Police Station in Minneapolis began to outgrow their existing space, Braun Intertec was consulted to help provide services on an expansion and remodeling of the existing building to meet the projected space needs of the department. A new parking lot was also constructed on an adjacent property. This adjacent property was contaminated due to its long historical industrial use as a foundry since the early 1900’s.

Services provided included Phase I and Phase II environ-mental work, a response action plan, MPCA liason services, indoor air sampling and engineering services.

Challenges and Features

These projects presented a number of challenges, including:

• Adjacent property contaminated
• Several suspected but not documented sources of contamination
• Work completed while accommodating working police station
• Unknown source of water infiltration to existing building
• Roadway construction
• Winter construction
• Limited budget

Solutions

Overcoming these challenges became a major part of the project. A team of multi-discipline trained engineers and experienced technicians worked with the city to conduct envi-ronmental and geotechnical assessments and evaluate sources of contamination at the site. A construction contingency plan was developed and because of communication and skilled field personnel, they were able to address the contamination in an effective and cost efficient manner. In addition, the team also conducted a detailed water infiltration evaluation and indoor air quality testing on a limited budget without disrupting the users of the facility thereby providing the design and construction team with cost effective design solutions. These solutions along with identifying and addressing contaminates contributed to the project’s overall success.