U.S. Army advances modular housing

Consisting of four buildings, each with four stories, the complexes boast a state-of-the-art modular design that reduces construction time for fast installation and occupancy.

To provide the buildings, Hensel-Phelps Construction Co., general contractor to the U.S. Army, awarded the Fort Carson project to the Warrior Group. Located in DeSoto, Texas, the Warrior Group is said to be the nation’s largest minority woman-owned supplier of modular buildings.

Hensel-Phelps Construction Co. is responsible for the design, manufacture and installation of approximately 500,000 sq. ft. of barracks and related facilities at Fort Carson. Goals of the housing are to accommodate existing and relocated soldiers at Fort Carson as the U.S. Army executes its Base Realignment and Closing (BRAC) 2005 initiatives.

Spearheading construction

After completing a similar housing project in record time at Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, Warrior Group immediately went to work on the Fort Carson project. Similar to the Fort Bliss installation, the Fort Carson project involves multiple complexes of multistory buildings. Both projects are said to serve as exemplary models of permanent facilities that involve modular, multilevel structures.

To assist with the Fort Carson project, Warrior Group partnered with All American Homes, which will manufacture all 832 housing units ordered. Production started last November, and cranes began installing the modular units at Fort Carson in February. The modular complexes are expected to be completed over the course of this year, with occupancy of the structures slated for November.

Because the modular buildings can be constructed and installed quickly, the Fort Carson and Fort Bliss projects will serve as prototypes for similar Army facilities and university dormitories throughout the United States.

“Permanent modular construction is well-suited to the urgent and often specialized nature of the military’s housing needs,” said Gail Warrior-Lawrence, president of Warrior Group. “Our successful work on the barracks at Fort Carson will serve to showcase our modular construction capabilities as we pursue additional military and nonmilitary projects around the country. Modular construction has evolved. There is a point where modular transcends. Then it’s art.”

DeSoto, Texas-based Warrior Group provided this case history.

For more information about the Warrior Group’s capabilities, visit http://www.warrior-group.net/.