Delivering the Brooklyn Borough-Based Jail: Design-Build at Scale in NYC

In 2018, the New York State Legislature passed a bill authorizing the New York City Department of Design and Construction (DDC) to use design-build for the first time to construct the Borough-Based Jails program (BBJ). The authorization became a key tool in meeting the policy mandate to replace Riker’s Island with smaller, safer, fairer detention facilities in the boroughs, closer to communities and the courts. DDC and program management partner AECOM-Hill JV immediately set to work creating a new design-build capital delivery program for the Borough-Based Jails that is transforming how the City delivers capital projects. By the end of 2025, DDC was well underway on the nation’s largest public vertical design-build program: completing five BBJ early works projects on time and on budget, earning the Design-Build Institute of America 2024 I.N.S.P.I.R.E.D. Owner of the Year Award and National Award of Excellence for the Queens Municipal Garage and Community Facility, and awarding design-build contracts for all four new jail facilities. The first contract to be awarded, the new Brooklyn Facility on Atlantic Avenue is currently under construction by design-build team Tutor Perini and HOK, with the Phase 2 design completion and construction approved in November 2024 and structure already erected to twelve stories. This session will explore how the Brooklyn jail team is leveraging design-build collaboration to deliver design excellence, on-the-ground problem solving to address the needs of the Department of Correction and other vital jail services, and real-time cost and schedule management to meet the ambitious goals of the Borough-Based Jails program. A presentation on the project’s design and delivery approach will be followed by a moderated discussion examining how design-build is performing at each stage, and the lessons DDC is bringing back to its larger capital program.

Speakers:
Eduardo del Valle, AIA, DBIA, LEED AP, Acting Commissioner, NYC DDC
Beverly Prior, FAIA, NCARB, DBIA, LEED AP, Vice President, Senior Program Manager, AECOM
Carl Galioto, FAIA, President, HOK

Moderator:
Becky Yurek, AIA, Chief Strategy Officer, NYC DDC