Midland County
- government
- Midland, Texas
Project Scope
232,777 SF
Construction Type
Building renovation
Midland County decided to move from the existing courthouse to a new, 11-story building it purchased to have all public services in one facility and better serve the county. The building was built in the early 1980s and required modifications to meet current building and fire codes, as well as the client’s needs.
The existing structure was previously an office building. It allowed for the use of existing walls and materials to be reused where possible to create the most efficient layout for each department. Parkhill worked with 20 Midland County departments to incorporate the fundamental functional and spatial relationships between office areas, courtrooms, administrative and high-security areas of the courthouse to plan for its current space needs and future growth.
The increased size of space allowed Midland County to incorporate nine new courtrooms into the facility. Waiting space and defendant transport areas were incorporated along with these courtroom spaces. Also, a new elevator specifically designated for defendant transport was designed into the new space to minimize interaction with the public. Each department’s employees gained close, easy access to files and storage that they retrieved at least once a week and to have growth space as well. Remote storage was developed for less frequently accessed items. Two of the 11 floors were left as shell space and were designed to allow for additional courtrooms. The vacant floors were structurally upgraded for those future expansions.
Parkhill engineers surveyed mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems to determine what could be reused in the renovated building. They designed systems wherever possible, integrating existing components with new ones where it was needed to meet today’s needs and codes adequately. This included installing a sprinkler system throughout the building while coordinating with all other above-ceiling systems and working within the existing floor-to-ceiling clearances. The existing elevators were also refurbished and brought up to code. The building was also surveyed and found to contain some asbestos materials, which were removed in conjunction with the space reconfigurations.
“During my term serving as Midland County Commissioner and overseeing the building projects of the Midland County, I had the pleasure of working with Jamie Zavodny and the associates of Parkhill. One of the projects was an 11 story, 223 ,000 square foot office building that was converted into the Midland County Courthouse. Jamie worked well with all department heads to determine and meet their needs through the programming, master planning, design and construction of the project. Parkhill listened to the concerns of the county and addressed them well with an efficient design that worked well for all departments. This project was finished in a timely manner and we worked well together to keep them quality and under budget." - Jimmy Smith, CCIM, Past Midland County Commissioner
Project Leadership
At Parkhill, We're Designing and Building for
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