Balfour Beatty and Samet Corporation Joint Venture to Deliver Modernized Courthouse in Forsyth County
Balfour Beatty, in joint venture with Samet Corporation, is partnering to deliver the new Forsyth County Courthouse in Winston Salem, North Carolina. A groundbreaking event for the new courthouse took place in February to celebrate the construction of the newly modernized courthouse that will provide improved security, accessibility, and technologies to better serve Forsyth County citizens and judicial personnel.
The new Forsyth County courthouse will be a 250,679-square-foot facility, expanding the existing justice center by 50 percent. The expanded building will feature 18 judicial spaces, including courtrooms and hearing rooms, rightsized to functionally accommodate judicial staff and the public. The judicial spaces will be situated on the first three floors of the building arrayed in double-loaded corridors to improve wayfinding and ease-of-access throughout the courthouse. Additionally, the facility will feature waiting areas specifically designed to provide open, daylit public spaces that lead into various courtrooms.
“We are thrilled to partner with Balfour Beatty in the delivery of Forsyth County’s new courthouse,” said Arthur Samet, CEO of Samet Corporation. “It is an honor to work with Balfour Beatty and our partners on this iconic project that will provide a new functional building for the county’s judicial system and become a new landmark for Forsyth County.”
Balfour Beatty and Samet are providing construction manager at risk services to deliver the newly modernized courthouse that is strategically designed to improve security allowing for the placement of security checkpoints, card access and video surveillance tools to further safeguard the public and judicial staff. Additionally, the facility is designed for safe and direct connections to navigate in-custody participants to the adjacent Forsyth County Law Enforcement Detention Center.
The courthouse will be fully accessible to accommodate members of the public with disabilities and will include infrastructure allowing for state-of-the-art technology to be utilized to efficiently conduct judiciary operations and bring the Forsyth community’s justice standards to the 21st century.
“We couldn’t be more excited to break ground on such a phenomenal project on behalf of Forsyth County,” said Jeff Sandeen, Balfour Beatty vice president and business unit leader in North Carolina. “Our joint venture team and design partners hard work to-date is a true testament to how important the new modernized courthouse will be to the Forsyth community. Our teams are committed to working with our partners to ensure the safe and successful delivery of the courthouse, and we look forward to providing a state-of-the-art facility that will improve the County’s judiciary duties for years to come.”
Construction is underway for Forsyth County’s new courthouse. Designed by CJMW Architecture, SLAM and O’Brien Atkins Balfour Beatty is utilizing the latest technology, innovation and lean construction methods such as Building Information Modeling to coordinate mechanical, electrical plumbing, fire protection and structural steel components, prefabrication of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, and technology to produce 360-degree photos documenting project progress to successfully deliver the County’s new courthouse. The project is slated for delivery April 2023.
