United States District Courthouse

Sain Associates completed the civil site design and permitting for a 68,000 SF federal courthouse on the former Anniston City Hall site at Gurnee Avenue. The scope of work included boundary and topographic surveys, site layout, grading, stormwater management, erosion control, utilities, and construction services. Sain coordinated with a team that included Page Southerland Page, contractors, MEP engineers, landscape architects, the General Services Administration (GSA), and the U.S. Marshals Service. 

Since the courthouse was defined by the Department of Homeland Security as a “Critical Action” facility and is in a 100-year floodplain, Sain’s design plan elevated the building and its critical infrastructure above the 500-year floodplain. In addition to complying with the City of Anniston’s stormwater management standards, this project was subject to stormwater regulations for federal projects as required in Section 438 of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 (EISA). To comply with EISA, the 95th percentile storm was retained on-site using a bioretention area. This project also included a specialized design to conform to security requirements issued by the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency.

Obtaining LEED Gold and SITES silver certification were design goals for this project. Construction began in November 2019, and the building was completed in March 2022. The new courthouse provided a district courtroom, a bankruptcy courtroom, three judges’ chambers, and 13 secured parking spaces. Other court related tenants included the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the U.S. Marshals Service, the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a bankruptcy administrator, and the U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services System. BIM modeling was used to coordinate the design and construction of the courthouse between the various disciplines and detect potential conflicts. BIM will also be used to manage operations and maintenance.