United States Embassy and Consular Projects
Multiple Locations
In 2001, PageSoutherlandPage began to pursue a new generation of design-build embassy projects offered by the U.S. Department of State’s Office of Overseas Building Operations (OBO). Since then 21 design-build U.S. embassy and consular projects have been designed by PageSoutherlandPage.
PageSoutherlandPage won its first award in 2002 with the New Embassy Compound (NEC) at Phnom Penh, Cambodia, as the design partner for Zachry Construction Company followed two years later with a larger NEC in Managua, Nicaragua.
In 2005, B.L. Harbert International invited PageSoutherlandPage to become its design partner with an initial focus on the African continent. This relationship has resulted in OBO awards in Kigali, Khartoum, Johannesburg, Brazzaville, Antananarivo, Ouagadougou, Addis Ababa, Dakar, Monrovia, Rabat and Abuja.
The LEED Silver certified U.S. Embassy Compound in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso was the first LEED certified building in West Africa and the fourth LEED certified building on the African continent – three of those four projects have been designed by PageSoutherlandPage. The other two LEED certified African embassy compounds are located in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, and Johannesburg, South Africa. With the firm’s pending LEED applications, PageSoutherlandPage will have designed more LEED certified buildings on the African continent than any other design firm.
Other major U.S. Embassy / Consulate projects delivered by the PageSoutherlandPage/Harbert team are located in Karachi, Dubai, Kyiv, Islamabad, Vientiane, and Helsinki. PageSoutherlandPage also served as designer for design-builder CCE, Inc., on OBO consular projects at Guayaquil, Ecuador and Canberra, Australia.
Although the size, complexity and contract values vary greatly, all of these projects share certain characteristics. All are active U.S. diplomacy facilities, so setting the appropriate image and integrating local cultural references into the design are crucial considerations. Each compound contains a number of facility types ranging from the dignity of a chancery office building to more utilitarian maintenance, storage and building services facilities; some aspects of modern embassy design involve sophisticated building technologies and intricate function relationships. In addition to being designed according to extensive physical and technical security standards, each new State Department project is now designed according to LEED certification criteria.
Despite the inherent complexity of these projects, each is tied to a fixed cost and delivery schedule with multiple construction document packages being issued for government approval in order to mobilize the design-builder as quickly as possible. This calls for a very high level of project management discipline by the design team reinforced by a strong sense of personal dedication by each design team member.
PageSoutherlandPage serves as the overall project manager for all design and engineering services, along with self-performing all of the required architectural and interior design services.
Awards: U.S. Embassy Compound | Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Construction Management Association of America (CMAA) 2011 Project Achievement Award; U.S. Embassy Compound | Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: Associated Builders and Contractors Award of Excellence – Institutional and Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Merit Award – International; U.S. Consulate Compound, Karachi, Pakistan: Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction. Green Merit Award (tie), Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction. Institutional $25-100 Million. OBELISK and Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction. International $75 Million & Over. OBELISK; U.S. Embassy Compound | Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo: Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction Award, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Design-Build Award and Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Sustainable Design Award; U.S. Embassy Compound | Khartoum, Sudan: Design-Build Institute of America, Public Sector Over $50 Million, Design-Build Institute of America, Best Overall Project and Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence Award – International; U.S. Consulate Compound, Dubai, United Arab Emirates: Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction. Green Merit Award (tie) and Alabama Chapter, Associated Builders and Contractors Excellence in Construction. Mega $100 – 200 Million. OBELISK.