Burgess & Niple provided engineering design and construction services for the new East Coast campus of a major defense company in Westfields Corporate Center. The project consists of an office building complex totaling nearly 1 million square feet, a visitor center, surface parking, and two parking garages.
The site presented a number of unique challenges. Approximately half of the 40-acre site was identified by Fairfax County as an Environmental Quality Corridor (EQC), a designation intended to preserve natural resources. Additionally, much of the site was constrained by an intermittent stream, floodplains, and wetlands.
B&N’s innovative approach to minimize impacts to the EQC included a land use plan that addressed stormwater management issues by consolidating storm drainage outfalls at the main area of disturbance. In addition, the intermittent stream was restored; nearly 20 acres were preserved as forested open space; and Low Impact Development features such as a green roof, rain gardens, permeable pavement, and storm filters were utilized.
B&N also designed the site’s water system, sanitary sewer, storm drainage, stormwater management/Best Management Practices (BMP), utilities, and access lanes. The special exception and rezoning amendment was managed through the public review process, the Fairfax County Department of Zoning, and the Board of Supervisors. The plan approval was then expedited through the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services using the Engineers and Surveyors Institute Designated Plans Examiner program.
In 2010, the project received four Fairfax County awards, including the Land Conservation Award for a Large Commercial Development and Best Protected Environmentally Sensitive Site. Additional awards were presented for tree preservation, and planting and stream restoration.