Design Review is the process of evaluating a set of drawing plans and specifications to assess whether they meet a host of concurrent requirement. Common concurrent facility requirements include:

• Service level needs of the local jurisdiction,
• Program goals and budgetary constraints,
• Consistency with industry standard practices as well as state rules, and
• Creating a more efficient, cost-effective, and safer operating environment.

Design reviews are typically documented with a set of written comments, questions, and recommendations to improve the evolving design prior to bid and construction. To be most cost-effective the design review process needs to be instituted at the beginning of the design process with review of conceptual design drawings. This early stage review can avoid more expensive changes to correct significant design oversights or flaws close to the final design stage. Design review is an iterative process that should continue through to the final design plans and specifications.

Piles drive through waste layer to supporting undisturbed soils.

Cement concrete foundation on piles over historic landfill footprint.

Clatsop County's HHW collection building under construction.

Clatsop County, OR
With financial assistance from Oregon Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), Clatsop County created an HHW plan that called for the development of a permanent HHW collection facility. The preferred site was located conveniently to the largest city, Astoria, at the site of a legacy landfill. Due to the presence of subsurface methane the facility was built on piles and included methane mitigation measures.

SWA assisted in reviewing preliminary and detailed design-build team plans and specifications. Recommendations for certain HHW related features were accepted to satisfy building/fire code, best practices of HHW collection facility design, as well as to meet state regulatory permitting requirements.

As the design process advanced, SWA assisted county staff and the design team in fielding both technical specifications questions and questions originating from elected officials.

SWA worked with the Oregon DEQ to determine the required documentation for the new facility’s solid waste permit under the state's transfer station rules. Using those findings, SWA

• created a report of tasks and timeline for state solid waste transfer station permitting,
• organized and compiled the transfer station permit information, and
• created narratives for the permit application package.

Special Waste Collection Center accepts HHW as well as other hard to handle recyclables and wastes.

Reuse room is attractive and has convenient, safe public access.

City of Elk Grove, CA
SWA provided comprehensive independent facility design review and guidance for the the City of Elk Grove’s landmark Special Waste Collection Center. The SWA scope of services included:

• Before of the design review phase, SWA led a tour of a diverse set of existing HHW collection facilities in Northern California.
• Actively participated in a pre-design charrette including client’s in-house project architect, outside design-build team, and Elk Grove’s solid waste managers.
• Consulted closely with internal design team and design-build team from preliminary design development through construction drawings.
• Provided technical assistance in meeting fire marshal and air permitting authority regulatory requests for information.
• Provided equipment suitability analysis of vendors’ bids for aerosol can crushing equipment.

The 11,700 sq.ft. facility features a 34 kW rooftop solar photo-voltaic array, drought tolerant landscaping, large reuse room, extensive use of natural daylighting, large loading dock, and judicious use of spot ventilation. The facility was certified as LEED Gold and has received 14 awards.

New covered drive-through receiving area.

Replacement facility is all under cover and designed for efficient materials flow as well as administrative offices.

Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County, FL
SWA assisted the Solid Waste Authority of Palm Beach County as they upgraded from a less efficient set of prefabricated hazardous materials buildings in the open to a site-built permanent collection building. The older HHW collection facility continued operation while a much larger adjacent space was developed with a new, 12,700 sq. ft. facility. One of the primary objectives of the project was to create a facility that was efficient in waste handling, reduced physical stress on workers, and flexible in its operating capabilities. SWA provided the following services surrounding design of the new replacement HHW collection facility:

• Evaluated pre-design planning documents regarding current and future needs,
• Toured the existing collection system of multiple HHW collection sites throughout the county,
• Reviewed and critiqued the preliminary site plan and floor plan,
• Projected likely waste volumes by waste type,
• Created storage space requirements for the new facility,
• Developed two conceptual design sketches for a new facility, and
• Reviewed design drawings and recommended design improvement on pre-construction drawing sets.

The final facility was found to be operationally efficient, highly flexible, and well designed. Consequently, the design was replicated to build a second nearly identical HHW collection facility to serve another area of the county.

Steel structural members are installed with use of a portable crane.

Finished facility with translucent wind/rain screen at customer receiving area.

Thurston County Public Works, WA
Thurston County was a very early developer of a permanent HHW collection site. It was a campus-style open-air facility that used many prefabricated hazardous materials buildings and other portable buildings over a historic landfill site. After many years of operating the campus-style permanent HHW collection facility with ever increasing public demand, Thurston County needed a more efficient and worker-friendly facility. SWA provided start-to-finish design consulting services including:

• Creation of a basis of design and performance document,
• Analysis of projected waste streams,
• Review of draft request for qualifications (RFQ) for a design-build contractor,
• Served on the interview panel for selection of a design-build contractor,
• Review of all phases of the design including preliminary, 60%, and 90% design drawings and selected specifications.

This 7,400 sq. ft. facility has become one of the most visited HHW collection facilities in the region by solid waste professionals due to its innovative and efficient design. Exceptional features include dedicated spot ventilation at all workstations, extensive use of natural lighting, minimal use of grated floors, flexible open workflow, and a translucent wind/rain screen parallel to both the customer receiving and shipping areas.

System Analysis