Municipal Complex Design and Adaptive Reuse, Township of Derry, PA

In an effort to serve residents more efficiently, a feasibility study resulted in the design of the Township of Derry Municipal Complex, allowing residents to access the Township offices, Emergency Management Center, Tax Association, and the Police Department, all on one site. The Municipal Complex is immediately adjacent to the Public Works and Recycling Center, also designed by our firm.

Based upon the Township’s growth and service needs projection over the next 15+ years, the new Municipal Complex design allows for flexibility as the Township grows and also incorporates safety and security measures throughout the complex.

The project involved 33,100 SF of renovations and 44,000 SF of additions to three former Milton S. Hershey School buildings, preserving the Hershey legacy and providing savings to the Township. Overall, however, the existing buildings were in very good condition and were considered for adaptive renovation as well as additions to meet the programmatic requirements.

Buchart Horn provided multiple room and workspace configuration options to maximize the efficiency of municipal functions. In addition, our in-house design team assessed and designed new strategies for pedestrian access, vehicle access, parking, lighting, energy efficiency, signage, landscaping, ventilation, and hazardous material remediation.

Through the consolidation of several Information Technology servers and system across the three buildings, we were able to improve data networking and telecommunication systems across the Township’s functional departments and extend them to the Township’s other facilities.

For the Police Department’s 41,500 SF, safety and security design considerations were carefully planned and design elements were selected to comply with Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies standards.