H2M’s Public Safety Market Celebrates a Successful 2023 Awards Season
H2M architects + engineers (H2M) had incredible success this past award season. Several Public Safety projects have been honored with awards and commendations. Let’s take a look at the winners!
West Natick Fire Station #4
Designed by Architect of Record Tecton Architects, P.C., with Firematic Design from H2M, this fire station in Natick, MA received a Gold Award from the Firehouse Station Design Awards, an Honor Award from the F.I.E.R.O. Station Design Awards, and the Sustainable Design Award from the AIA Long Island Archi Design Awards.
Completed in October 2022, this brand new 25,000-square-foot all-electric station was designed to the standard of LEED Silver, with roof-mounted solar panels, a high-performance thermal building envelope, LED lighting, and high-efficiency boilers.
The station was designed to enable a close connection to the surrounding community with a jogging/cycling path that curves around the front of the building and connects to a pocket park. The living quarters will protect responder health from street noise and pollution, preserve circadian rhythms and sleep patterns, and reduce the risk of carcinogenic contamination.
Incorporated Village of Mineola New Fire Headquarters
The old Mineola, NY fire station had nobly served its community for more than 100 years. However, despite numerous additions and renovations, critical structural infrastructure began to fail. The H2M team set out to design a brand new station that could support the Mineola Fire Department for the next 100 years.
Since the Department is staffed entirely by volunteers, this new three-story, 28,000-square-foot headquarters focuses on recruitment, retention, and camaraderie. The lower floor is strategically arranged around the apparatus bays to enable the fastest possible response while also allowing volunteers to circulate within the building quickly, efficiently, and safely. The upper floors have company rooms, a meeting hall with a large skylight, and an outdoor patio.
This year, the Mineola New Fire Headquarters won the Recognition Award from the F.I.E.R.O. Station Design Awards.
Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad
This year, the Princeton First Aid and Rescue Squad (PFARS) received the NJ Alliance for Action Distinguished Engineering Award in recognition of the station’s impact on New Jersey’s economy and environment.
The site was the perfect fit for the EMS station, but it required significant remediation before it was safe to use. H2M’s design team incorporated aggressive protections along a 30-inch-wide water main that ran through the site to ensure that a theoretical break would not compromise the new building. Other design parameters included a residential-zone, 30-foot maximum height restriction; a requirement to keep a New Jersey Department of Public Works fueling station on the property; and a commitment to environmental sustainability.
This station, staffed in large part by student volunteers from the local university, is a cornerstone of the Princeton community and is now equipped to serve the surrounding municipality of more than 30,000 people.
