It can be difficult to find a general contractor that excels at the accelerated schedules, information security and complex mechanical, electrical and plumbing (MEP) systems required to build successful and on-budget projects on a campus like the United States Naval Academy (USNA). Similarly, only the most skilled contractors can truly excel at renovation work and adaptive reuse in century-old spaces, preserving and protecting vital pieces of history.

Following a large projects multiple award construction project (LPMACC) awarded by Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC), Balfour Beatty will renovate the USNA historic Ward Hall into a state-of-the-art campus office and infrastructure facility. Set for completion in 2026, the project will utilize the best of our team’s expertise in both adaptive reuse and mission critical construction to provide and preserve a space that will serve the U.S. Navy’s midshipmen for many years.

Preserving the Past, Preparing for the Future

The U.S. Naval Academy’s campus is nothing if not a wealth of historical architecture, into which the very history of the United States Navy is etched in granite, wood and metal. Ward Hall is no exception. Originally built in 1941 and named for Commander James H. Ward, one of the five original founders of the USNA, Ward Hall has served the academy for nearly a century.

Given its age and origin, the building is also replete with architectural features worth preserving, even as its interior and amenities are brought into the 21^st Century. In addition to the masonry shell itself, the building has several unique features, including copper-cast torch sconces featuring intricate tall ships, three-inch-thick hardwood double doors, a carved stone academy seal above the doors and carved stone corbels around the roof’s perimeter. Historical features continue within, with original plaster adornments and terrazzo flooring.

Such historical details are not easily handled, so our team will work closely with the USNA’s architecture partner and other designers who specialize in historical reconstruction to ensure these valuable features are accurately preserved and restored.

“The Naval Academy is the pride and joy of the U.S. Navy, at least on land,” says Project Manager David Perera. “To combine the best of our skills in adaptive reuse, historic preservation and mission critical construction on this project will be an equally lasting point of pride for the Balfour Beatty team.”

Inside, of course, our team will continue renovation work while constantly incorporating carefully sequenced construction activities to ensure that critical systems within the hall can remain operational.

Across many projects throughout the Mid-Atlantic, including for premier financial institutions and federal clients like the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, our teams have repeatedly demonstrated a mastery of information- and security-sensitive mission critical construction and the uncompromising commitment to reliability and schedule efficiency it requires.

“Balfour Beatty is proud to serve as the Naval Academy’s ally in preparing this critical campus facility for the future,” David adds. “Universities increasingly seek to update campus infrastructure while also preserving their unique architectural character, and few U.S. universities are as important as the Academy.”

Maximizing Every Dollar

While Balfour Beatty teams across the U.S. excel at maximizing the many advantages of collaborative contracting models, some projects like the Ward Hall Renovations operate instead under a stipulated lump sum contract. Even so, Balfour Beatty’s teams leverage every opportunity to drive down costs, reduce risk and pursue innovative solutions to these critical projects, thus assisting NAVFAC and other federal, state or municipal institutions in serving as responsible stewards of public funds – a mission that has earned Balfour Beatty a reputation as one of the nation’s top-performing government contractors.

To first ensure that our project plan, procurement projections and overall schedule best suit the client’s needs, our teams often lean on the invaluable insights that can be provided by Building Information Modeling (BIM) coordination by our Virtual Design and Construction (VDC) team.

“Just because a project isn’t formally a ‘collaborative contract,’ doesn’t mean we take our core value of ‘relentless collaboration’ any less seriously,” David says. “Within the given framework, we still seek out every opportunity for innovative risk mitigation solutions and deploy our best teams and tools to make it happen, including extensive VDC work, laser scanning of existing conditions and BIM coordination.”

With the sheer amount of MEP infrastructure present in a facility like Ward Hall, that early coordination between our teams is often the key to mitigating design issues that, while seemingly minor in early stages of construction, could later result in costly rework.

On the procurement side, our teams also work tirelessly to stay many steps ahead of the market, ensuring that long-lead items like electrical and HVAC equipment are acquired and available well in advance of a project’s needs while still conscious of such equipment’s valuable warranty periods, which often begin at purchase by the contractor.

In an industry repeatedly beset by supply chain disruptions, maintaining a robust procurement pipeline (and encouraging and equipping our critical trade partners to do the same) ensures projects can commence, proceed and reach completion on a reliable timetable, shielded from surprise shortages.

Public Partners

Whether renovating a historic campus treasure for the Naval Academy, building a command center for a municipal emergency operations department or erecting a stunning tribute to our armed services like the Air Force Memorial, our teams take seriously the gravity of our public clients’ stewardship of taxpayer dollars and in turn strive to provide maximum value.

We strive to provide the very best client-first service on every project, and never more so than when serving our nation’s critical defense and intelligence infrastructure or the esteemed academy molding the next generation of midshipmen into our future U.S. Navy.