Background

Foth has served as Blue Earth County’s solid waste consultant since the 1990s. The County asked Foth to provide engineering services for the design and construction of a new customer service and recycling building near Mankato, Minnesota.

Approach

Foth, together with Krech, O’Brien, Mueller & Associates (architect) and Emanuelson-Podas (MEP engineer) worked with the County and its contract operator to develop concept-level plans and cost opinions for the customer service and recycling building for diverting a wide variety of materials destined for the landfill. After receiving Board approval of the conceptual plans, the Foth team developed permitting documents, construction plans and specifications, coordinated bidding, and provided construction quality assurance and documentation services for the facility construction and site-related work.

Results

The new facility includes an 18,000 square foot precast concrete structure with scale and office. The operations side of the building includes drive-through doors for the public, passive lighting, push walls/loading docks to facilitate the transfer of materials, in-floor heating, fire protection, and a reinforced roofing system to allow solar development. The County now has a facility that provides customer safety and convenience, handling of special wastes, increased opportunities for recycling/reuse, severe weather shelter (FEMA approved), ADA accessibility, and an adaptable building structure for future opportunities.