What we build · Shelters
A Building People Are Sent To
Purpose-built shelters and buildings — frequently schools — designed or retrofitted to shelter standard.
The facility type, whether it is a new build or a hardening project, and the procurement route. That is enough to start.
Operational
Not "survives the storm" — works during and after it
Category IV
A different design standard, not a higher one
Public work
Bonded, documented, formally administered
Licensed
General contractor, licensed in the state of Florida
People are directed there by an authority
A shelter is not somewhere people choose. They are told to go, they bring families, and they stay through the event. That places a different weight on the building than on one people opted into, and it means every element has to perform rather than most of them.
What a shelter needs
- Envelope protection at every opening, with no exceptions.
- Structure designed for the shelter standard, not the ordinary one.
- Power, water and sanitation for the occupancy and duration.
- Accessibility, because shelters serve everybody.
- Dual use, since most shelters are something else most of the time.
How we handle it
- 01Build envelope protection at every opening.
- 02Deliver the structure to the specified shelter standard.
- 03Provide the utility resilience the design requires.
- 04Ensure accessibility throughout.
- 05Deliver a building that works in its everyday use too.
Design the everyday use as carefully as the shelter use. Most shelters are schools or community buildings for all but a few days of their life, and one that is unpleasant to use daily is a poor building that happens to be safe occasionally.
Said plainly
Where we stop
Shelter designation and standards are set by the authority and the design professional. We build to the specified standard and do not represent a building as meeting a designation it has not been assessed against.
FAQ
Common questions
- What makes a building a shelter?
- A designation assessed against a standard by the authority. We build to the specified standard.
- Does every opening need protection?
- Every one. The weakest opening decides the outcome.
- Are shelters used daily?
- Most are schools or community buildings. The everyday use matters as much.
- Do you determine designation?
- No. The authority and design professional do.
Requirements
The Operational Standard
Building codes assign essential facilities a higher risk category, and the intent is that they keep working — not simply that they do not collapse.
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The Envelope
The envelope is the difference between a building that keeps working and one that is open to weather with everything inside it ruined.
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Power
Backup power for an essential facility means running the whole operation for a realistic duration, not keeping the lights on.
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Utilities & Communications
A facility with power and no water, or no communications, is not operational. Both are frequently designed to ordinary standards.
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Public Procurement
Most essential facilities are public projects, which brings a formal process that shapes how the work is bought and administered.
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More what we build
Fire Stations
Apparatus bays, living quarters and a structure that has to launch a response during the event everybody else is sheltering from.
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EMS Facilities
Ambulance bays, supply and medication storage, crew quarters, and a layout that does not cost seconds on the way out.
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Emergency Operations Centers
Where a county or city coordinates its response. It has to be habitable, powered, connected and staffed through the worst of it.
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Next step
Find out what is actually wrong with it.
An inspection, photographs of what we found, and a written scope. If the honest answer is that it can wait another season, that is the answer you will get.