Vehicle Operations & Maintenance Facilities
Functional, innovative and sustainable O&M facilities boost productivity, enhance safety and improve fleet resiliency.
Each client and each fleet has unique operations and maintenance facility needs. Identifying yours is where our work starts, and we bring a proven strategy to every step in the facility planning process — from feasibility studies and site selection to equipment analysis and stakeholder engagement. Our full-service capability leverages our specialized expertise across a range of related disciplines to deliver tailored solutions that are sustainable and widely supported.
Our experts offer a custom approach when addressing the functional needs of vehicle O&M facilities for our clients in the aviation, bus and rail transit, education, municipal and joint-use, industrial, and utilities sectors. Our facility planning teams have pioneered unique design features to improve function and the work environment. Many of these innovations have optimized work space, enhanced safety and become industry standards. From daily activities to the facility’s impact on properties surrounding it, every detail informs our analysis so we can deliver exceptional value to our clients and their communities.
What our Clients Say
"HDR was the catalyst that pulled all of the other design disciplines together. They simply make everyone take it to the next level."
— Kevin Faulkner, Sun Tran (Tucson)
Our O&M Facility Experts
What We Do
Our clients include airports, seaports, transit agencies, municipalities, utility companies, universities, school districts and others — all of which have confirmed that exceptional O&M facilities make economic sense for owners, operators, employees and communities.
Programming
Development of short- and long-term space needs, design criteria and preliminary budget costs
Site Analysis & Selection
Identification of potential alternative sites and analysis using physical, operational, economic and environmental criteria
Site Master Planning
Preparation of long-range site master plans addressing building placement, parking, storage, vehicle circulation, access requirements and phased expansion
Facility Conceptual Design
Translation of space needs and design criteria into conceptual site and floor plans, and building elevations
Equipment Industrial Design
Inventories of existing equipment, new equipment selection, equipment layout and discipline coordination drawings, and preparing specifications
Process Piping
Design of industrial process piping drawings, schedules, and specification for centralized fluids distribution and compressed air systems
Building Systems Engineering
Design of sustainable mechanical, electrical, plumbing and fire protection systems appropriate for vehicle maintenance facilities
Design-Build Criteria, Bridging Documents
Development of detailed facility design criteria and plans used as the technical basis for DB procurement documents
Expert Value Engineering
Review of preliminary design documents to evaluate cost and value
Facility Maintenance Plans
Comprehensive preventative maintenance program to extend useful life of the facility
Improving Operations & Maintenance Work Environments
In "Issues and Challenges of Obtaining New Public Works Maintenance and Operations Facilities," first published in APWA Reporter magazine by the American Public Works Association, we offer planning tips from two of our senior facility design managers — Ken Booth and Mark Ellis.
The Rulebook for Vehicle O&M Facility Design
We wrote "the rulebook" as a guide for estimating site needs, construction costs and more. Inside, you will find rules for estimating bay sizes based on vehicle types. We also outline building and fire code rules relevant to specific aspects of vehicle O&M facilities. Our rulebook can even help you determine space needs for your buildings and parking.
Prepared by our vehicle O&M facility experts, this presentation also offers rules in the form of practical advice. Rules like "make the workplace a pleasant place to work" suggest facility features for happier humans.
Estimate the Cost of an O&M Facility
How can you realistically estimate the cost of an operations and maintenance facility? The answer may be simpler than you think. Whether it's for rail transit, bus transit, snow removal equipment, school buses or something else, you can use this presentation to learn how to determine your hard costs, soft costs, funding options and more using our cost-estimation workbook. Our Senior Facility Design Manager Mark Ellis presented this useful tool for fleet owners and operators during the American Public Transportation Association's 2017 Bus and Paratransit Conference.
Industry Firsts
The "Industry Firsts" below are samples of innovations that were first to the market and have now become industry standards. Your needs change as your organization changes; why should your design team’s approach be stagnant? Thinking outside the box is our responsibility and privilege.
Traditional pit lighting can translate to inconsistent bright spots alternating with dark shadows. We developed a new way to light these areas using strip LED lighting in the lower level work area along posted rail. We worked with lighting vendors and designers to apply a solution not originally intended for this application, but it's a way that works better than conventional solutions to provide even light levels along the underside of rail vehicles.
When Denver Regional Transportation District's Elati O&M facility for light rail vehicles opened in 2010, it was the first to deploy a mezzanine level 18 inches above the upper work platforms. Employees can pass beneath the facility’s mezzanine with equipment such as forklifts. This design promotes the use of standard, rather than low-clearance, systems.
When both catenary poles and light poles are present in a rail yard, it can create a complex and expensive environment. We developed a solution that combines the two and is cost-effective. By strategically locating poles that serve both purposes, and selecting appropriate light fixtures mounted at an effective height, we created a neater, more efficient yard, decreased obstructions and returned some flexibility to rail yard operations.
