New York gets a state-of-the-art emergency management center

The $50 million, 65,000-sf headquarters in downtown Brooklyn for New York City's Office of Emergency Management (OEM) has been completed. The project, designed by local firm Swanke Hayden Connell Architects and undertaken on behalf of the New York City Department of Design and Construction, replaces the former headquarters which was housed in 7 World Trade Center and was destroyed when the building collapsed due to collateral damage on September 11, 2001. Bovis Lend Lease of New York was the construction manager on the LEED Silver project. The scope of work called for the re-cladding, gut renovation, and addition to an existing 50-year-old, three-story building. It was converted from a center core building to a side core building by creating an 8,000-sf addition on the north side of the structure. Some of the features of the new headquarters include a media briefing room, watch command area, and the city's Emergency Operations Center.