The Imperial County Board of Supervisors in California has selected Balfour Beatty Construction to design and build its new $28 million Oren R. Fox Detention Facility. The conditional award of the design-build contract was approved by the Imperial County Board of Supervisors on Dec. 8, 2015.

The two-level project will be built west of the central portion of the existing jail facility located in El Centro, Calif. and will expand inmate capacity by 228 beds. The project scope includes a teaching kitchen, laundry facility, print shop, video visitation center, in addition to associated site, parking and utility improvements. The overall expansion will encompass approximately 64,000 square feet of gross building area.

Design-build partners include Arrington Watkins Architects, A.O. Reed—HVAC/mechanical, Dynalectric—electrical, and CML Security—security electronics. The project is expected to break ground in the summer of 2016 with a targeted completion in the fall of 2017.

“We are pleased to continue our tradition of building important projects in the Imperial Valley and our dedicated team looks forward to safely delivering a quality project on schedule,” said Brian Cahill, president of Balfour Beatty Construction’s California Division. “We are excited to leverage the tremendous success and lessons learned from our recent completion of the award winning Las Colinas Women’s Detention and Reentry Facility located in Santee, California.”

Funding for the Imperial County jail expansion project is provided by AB900, a state measure approved by voters in 2011.

About Balfour Beatty Construction US

An industry leader for more than 80 years, Balfour Beatty Construction US provides general contracting, at-risk construction management, and design-build services for a wide variety of markets, serving clients in both the public and private sectors. The company is the U.S. subsidiary of London-based Balfour Beatty plc (LSE: BBY), a leading international infrastructure group that finances, develops, builds and maintains complex building programs focused on social and commercial buildings, power and utility systems, and transportation. Consistently ranked among the nation’s largest building contractors, Balfour Beatty Construction Services US has been cited as a Top 10 Domestic Building Contractor and Top 10 Green Builder by Engineering News-Record. To learn more, visit www.balfourbeattyus.com or look for BalfourBeattyUS on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn.