Project Name: Arkansas City Water Treatment Facility

Company Name: Burns & McDonnell

Project Location: Arkansas City, Kansas United States

Project Information/Details: With capacity to easily expand to 6.3 MGD, the new plant provides a stable and secure source of drinking water for Arkansas City, a community of 12,000 located in south-central Kansas and surrounding customers. The new $22 million plant was built at a cost of $4 million under the original budget. In addition, advanced technology will enable the plant to achieve annual operations and maintenance cost savings of 20 percent under costs of the existing city water treatment facility that had been in operation since the 1950s. “Arkansas City now has an outstanding new water treatment facility that will guarantee clean, affordable water for our citizens for decades to come,” said Nick Hernandez, city manager of Arkansas City. “We’re thrilled that this outstanding project came in well under budget, and will save operations and maintenance costs for years to come.” Burns & McDonnell worked in partnership with the city’s Public Works Department to implement a number of technology solutions as part of a wide-ranging cost savings initiative. Among the most significant savings was a reclassification of the Arkansas City water supply, enabling a savings of $1.5 million. The city currently utilizes 10 wells within the Arkansas River alluvium for its water supply. Studies showed that the continued use of the alluvial well field was the most reliable and cost-effective water source. However, the wells previously had been identified as a well field with “groundwater under the direct influence of surface water.” Burns & McDonnell conducted a study that confirmed the wells are not under the direct influence of surface water. This reclassification enabled the city to switch from more expensive microfiltration technology to GreensandPlus filtration and integrate other cost-saving equipment adjustments. Additional studies verified that the less expensive treatment options were sufficient to remove iron, manganese and other minerals, as well as other constituents such as chlorides, total dissolved solids, hardness and other contaminants. Extensive testing verified that water quality treated at the new facility exceeds standards set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The water treatment plant design incorporates a below-grade raw water charge tank, vertical turbine raw water booster pumps, GreensandPlus filtration, cartridge filters, reverse osmosis high-pressure pumps, reverse osmosis treatment and bypass blending. In addition, the plant features a new 1.5 million-gallon clearwell and high-service pumping for finished water supply to the distribution system, and a full range of other chemical treatment systems to provide a stable drinking water supply to the customers.

Project Name: Newport Utilities

Company Name: Studio Four Design

Project Location: Newport, Tennessee United States

Project Information/Details: Studio Four Design, a top Knoxville-based architecture and design firm, helped bring to life a new customer-focused, interactive lobby area for Newport Utilities, in Newport, Tennessee. The lobby was redesigned to put a spotlight on the Newport Utilities’ new offering of premise fiber optic cable broadband services. Previously, the lobby reflected a traditional utilities business, but now it’s an interactive experience center where customers can see and feel the superior performance of fiber broadband in data delivery, television viewing, and telephone service. “The vision for this project was to improve the customer experience of visitors to our facility as we introduce fiber-optic broadband services to our community,” said Glenn Ray, General Manager for Newport Utilities. “We were looking for a new, innovative way to interact with our customers, and Studio Four Design delivered that for us. The new high-tech lobby is engaging for our visitors and has freed up our customer service team to handle billing, utility service, and outage issues. It’s a win-win for everyone involved.” Studio Four Design’s philosophy behind the design is to provide a more welcoming environment for utility customers as they enter the building, introduce interactive kiosks to visitors, and allow customer service team members to focus more attention on patrons who have billing or outage questions. The new lobby area features: · Interactive Television Display – The focal point of the experience area is the interactive television display that will be used for customer demonstrations and learning. A set of four television screens work together to form a large touch screen surface, and with the addition of a controller, can also work independently to display multiple messages. · Customer Service Workstations – The customer experience area incorporates two work stations for customer service representatives to complete customer orders. There is ample counter space to accommodate displays and product brochures, and the counters are a comfortable height for resting one’s arms. The area has sufficient storage cabinets and shelves to keep a convenient inventory of supplies to facilitate customer/agent interaction. · Promotional Display – A large screen television adjacent to the interactive television provides an appealing display for videos, presentations or programming content for customer service and marketing purposes. “The interior design of any business or facility has a major impact on the customer experience of visitors and how employees interact with customers,” said Stacy Cox president of Studio Four Design. “So when it comes to running a successful business, the design of your building and the interior space really matter. Our focus was on achieving the primary objectives of Newport Utilities through the creative and thoughtful design of its lobby area.”

Project Name: The Restaurants at Southwest

Company Name: KWK Architects

Project Location: Columbia, Missouri United States

Project Information/Details: When it comes to food choices, students at the University of Missouri have a variety of options to suit every taste, with a visit to The Restaurants at Southwest designed by St. Louis, MO-based KWK Architects. Opened for the 2017-2018 school year at a cost of $15 million, The Restaurants at Southwest dining facility features something for everyone. Unlike the traditional, buffet-style, all-you-can eat service of most student dining halls, The Restaurants at Southwest offers a la carte service, which lessens food waste and inventory. The Restaurants at Southwest features six restaurant-style dining options, which include: Legacy Grill - Classic burgers, hand-cut fries, quesadillas, nachos and chicken sandwiches. Tiger Avenue Deli - Philly-style sandwiches prepared and served hot off the grill. Olive & Oil - Mediterranean-influenced pasta with house made pasta sauces. 1+5+3 Soups & Salads - Made-from-scratch, healthy soups and salads that offer students vegetarian, vegan and allergy-friendly options. 1839 Kitchen - Tasty comfort foods such as rotisserie chicken and other protein choices. Truffles - Desserts, smoothies, yogurt parfaits, bagels and other healthy snacks. The project also includes a separate Starbucks facility. KWK Architects, along with associate architect Lawrence Group, was contracted in 2013 to design a 30,000-square-foot, 600-seat dining facility and adjoining residence hall to replace the Pavilion at Dobbs, which was demolished in September 2017 upon completion of The Restaurants at Southwest. Located on the Southwest campus near athletic facilities and the university's Greek Town of fraternities and sororities, The Restaurants at Southwest was designed to be a social hub for the Dobbs residential neighborhood.